19 Facts About Patricia Monaghan

Patricia Monaghan was a poet, a writer, a spiritual activist, and an influential figure in the contemporary women's spirituality movement.

Patricia Monaghan was a mentor to many scholars and writers including biologist Cristina Eisenberg, poet Annie Finch, theologian Charlene Spretnak, and anthropologist Dawn Work-MaKinne, and was the founding member of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, which brought together artists, scholars, and researchers of women-centered mythology and Goddess spirituality for the first time in a national academic organization.

Patricia Monaghan spent her early years on Long Island surrounded by a large extended family.

When Patricia Monaghan was in fourth grade, her family moved to Colorado, following the transfer of her father, an Air Force officer.

Patricia Monaghan maintained an ongoing interest in French literature, especially in the symbolist poets.

Patricia Monaghan earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alaska and a Ph.

In 1995, Patricia Monaghan joined the faculty of the School for New Learning at DePaul University, where she taught classes in arts and environmental sciences until 2011, eventually attaining the rank of Full Professor.

Patricia Monaghan published an encyclopedia of Celtic myth, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Myth and Folklore, and edited a three-volume collection of essays entitled Goddesses in World Culture, published in 2010 by ABC-CLIO.

Patricia Monaghan brought her lifelong interest in Ireland together with her commitment to women's spirituality in The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit, a poetic yet scholarly recounting of Irish myth, tale, and tradition.

Patricia Monaghan taught workshops on women's spirituality through the Women's Thealogical Institute and the Temple of Diana.

In keeping with her earth-centered spiritual path, Patricia Monaghan honored the sacred in nature.

Patricia Monaghan was a wine expert, and author of Wineries of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

At the time of her death, Patricia Monaghan had just finished co-editing with her spouse Dr Michael McDermott an anthology of writings called Brigit: Sun of Womanhood.

Patricia Monaghan was revising The Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines for a paperback edition.

Patricia Monaghan was a founder of and Senior Fellow at The Black Earth Institute.

Patricia Monaghan was a leader in the founding and development of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, an organization committed to recognizing and encouraging Goddess scholarship in academia and Goddess-inspired creative arts.

Patricia Monaghan won a Pushcart Prize for "Physics and Grief".

Patricia Monaghan's work was included in Best American Spiritual Writing that year.

Patricia Monaghan won the 2008 Paul Gruchow Memorial Essay Award; the Phoenix Award for Poetry, Crowsnest Environmental Action Society, Alberta, Canada, 2003; and the Spirit of Inquiry Award, DePaul University, 2003.