Biographies
BROOKS ROBARDS
has been writing and publishing poetry since the late 1960s. She is the author of "A Magical Place: Poems, Paintings and Photographs of Martha's Vineyard," "Off Season: Poems, Paintings and Photographs of Martha's Vineyard" and "Sea Bound, On the Waters of Martha's Vineyard." All three are collaborations with artist Nancy Purnell. She also appears in "Wednesday's Poets, An Anthology," "Island Quintet, New Work by Five Vineyard Poets" and "Across the Long Bridge: An Anthology of Award-Winning Poetry."
In addition she has published six other books including "Sweet & Sour: One Woman's Chinese Adventure, One Man's Chinese Torture," with her husband Jim Kaplan (Summerset Press); "Arnold Schwarzenegger" (Smithmark); and "Medieval Knights at War" (Barnes & Noble).
She has written three other books in the Tiger Bay series "Historic America" "The Southwest, " "The Heartland," and "The South" (in press).
Her articles on film, horses, the outdoors and other topics have appeared in such magazines as "Martha's Vineyard" and "Connecticut" She has also published numerous newspaper stories in newspapers such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The St. Petersburg Times, The Providence Journal, The Springfield Republican, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Vineyard Gazette and the Martha's Vineyard Times.
She began her journalistic career at Life Magazine and also worked for Ramparts Magazine. With a Ph.D. in Communication from UMass/Amherst, an M.A. in English Literature from UHartford, and an A.B. in English from Bryn Mawr College, she spent 21 years teaching film, journalism and women's studies at Westfield State College in Massachusetts and has authored numerous scholarly articles on film and television.
She divides her time between Northampton, MA, and Oak Bluffs, MA, on Martha's Vineyard.