Ellen Bass studied with Anne Sexton while earning an MA in creative writing from Boston University. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is the author of collections including Mules of Love (BOA Editions, 2002), winner of the Lambda Literary Award; The Human Line (Copper Canyon Press, 2007); and Indigo (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). With Laura Davis, she co-authored the nonfiction book The Courage to Heal (1988). She teaches in the Pacific University MFA program and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
