Patricia McKernon Runkle’s poems explore loss, healing, and the unexpected. Her memoir, Grief’s Compass: Walking the Wilderness with Emily Dickinson, received a Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medal for lyrical prose and was a finalist for the Rubery Book Award. Her poetry collection, To the You Who Used to Be, explores her mother's dementia and the unexpected wholeness preserved in her flashes of lucidity.

In addition to memoir and poetry, Patricia has written and published songs and collaborative choral pieces. She holds a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and values the quiet work of listening. She lives with her husband in New Jersey, and they cherish their two grown children.