Leslie Thomas lives in the St. Croix Valley. She coordinated a creative writing project dedicated to the Mississippi River with a St. Paul non-profit organization. Her article “Writing the River” was featured in University of Minnesota’s Open Rivers journal. Her poem “Restoring Prairie” won 4th place in St. Paul Almanac’s Break Through writing contest. Recent poetry publications include the anthologies Planet in Peril from Fly on the Wall press, Paws Healing the Earth from River Paw Press, and The Trumpeter, Journal of Ecosophy. Leslie holds an MSc in environmental history from The University of Edinburgh. She is inspired by the places she loves; prairie and woodland trails, rivers and her garden.