Sandra Lynn Hutchison holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Toronto and has been the recipient of various academic and literary awards, including a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, an Emily Dickinson Poetry Prize, and a Jane Kenyon Poetry Fellowship from Bennington College. She is also a Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Orono, Maine, where she teaches scriptural exegesis and mentors writers in courses she offers through the Corinne True Center for History and the Study of the Texts. In addition, she serves as faculty for the BIHE (Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education), an online university in which she teaches journalism, essay writing, and storytelling to Bahai youth who are banned from attending public universities in Iran.
Hutchison is the author of two books of poetry, The Art of Nesting (GR Books) and The Beautiful Foolishness of Things, which was a finalist for the Poet’s Corner Chapbook Contest, as well as a memoir about China, Chinese Brushstrokes (Turnstone Press). She serves as the editor of e*lix*ir (https://www.elixir-journal.org), an online journal of the arts she founded in 2015 to showcase art that celebrates the power of spirit. Her translation, with Shahin Mowzoon, of Mahvash Sabet’s second volume of prison poems, A Tale of Love, with an introduction by Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi, was published by GR Books in 2024. She is the author of numerous essays, and her stories have appeared in publications such as Chinese Pen: Western Ink, an anthology of stories about China published by Oxford University Press.
2026 Courses
Finding the Hidden Gift, Feb. 9-Mar. 29
Writing about the Writings: The Art and Craft of the Personal Reflection Piece Sept. 7 – Oct. 25