Michelle Latvala’s first book of poems, Between Latitudes (Green Writers Press, 2025), received honorable mention for the Eric Hoffer Award and was named a finalist for the First Horizon Award. Michelle served as executive director of Spirit Rock Meditation Center for a decade and now works as faculty for poet David Whyte’s Institute for Conversational Leadership. She migrates between responsibilities in northern California and eastern Alaska, where she built a cabin at the same latitude her Finnish ancestors inhabited for centuries in the shared circumpolar boreal forest. Michelle’s offerings can be found at www.michellelatvala.com.