Meet Our Editor

We are saddened to report that Shirley Anne Leonard passed away on May 22, 2024. You can read her obituary here: Shirley Anne Leonard. This magazine will continue under the editorship of her husband, Dr. Richard Leonard.

Shirley Anne Leonard (formerly known as Shirley Poirier Malmgren) studied at Carl Sandburg College, where she earned the Certificate in Desktop Publishing and received other awards. Author of more than 800 poems, she became editor of WestWard Quarterly in 2003 succeeding Marsha Ward.

In addition to WestWard Quarterly, Shirley Anne has published five chapbooks through Laudemont Press. Her poetry has appeared in Time of Singing, Ancient Paths, and The FORESEE (bulletin of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference). Several of her poems have also been published online by Reconciliation Press (no longer online), Christian Poetry, and Quill & Parchment. Poems she wrote also appear in A Glimpse of Heaven, compiled by Richard Leonard and JoNancy Sundberg (Howard Books, 2007) and Secure the Fort (and Remain Under God) edited by Lucy Cain (XLibris, 2007). She has been a member of Christian Writers Fellowship International and the Illinois State Poetry Society.

Mrs. Leonard — mother of five, grandmother of eight, and great-grandmother of eight — is associated with her husband, Dr. Richard C. Leonard, in the work of Laudemont Ministries, Hamilton, Illinois. A selection of her poems appears on the Laudemont Ministries web site.