Rita A. Simmonds was born in Rochester, New York. She received her BA from Hofstra University and her MA from Teachers College, Columbia University. For several years, she worked for the City University of New York, teaching English as a Second Language.
She is a three-time winner of the Best Original Poetry category at the annual Catholic Press Association Awards, as well as a winner of numerous second and third place CPA awards. She is a regular contributor to MAGNIFICAT, with 49 original poems appearing in the best-selling MAGNIFICAT Year of Mercy Companion. She has four books of poetry: Souls and the City, Bitterness and Sweet Love, Greeting the Seasons, and He Called, and a memoir: Convicted by Mercy: The Journey of Frank Simmonds from the Streets to Sanctity.
Rita lives in Rochester, New York, with her two teenage sons.
Rita A. Simmonds 