Judith Valente
Judith Valente is an awarding-winning print and broadcast journalist, poet and essayist. She began her work in journalism at the age of 21 as a staff reporter for The Washington Post. She later joined the staff of The Wall Street Journal, reporting from that paper's Chicago and London bureaus. She was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, first in the public service category as part of a team of reporters at The Dallas Times Herald investigating airline safety in the 1980's. In 1993, she was a finalist in the Pulitzer in the feature writing category for her front page article in The Wall Street Journal, chronicling the story of a religiously conservative father caring for his son dying of AIDS. For the past eight years, Ms. Valente has been a regular contributor to the national PBS-TV news program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. She has won eight broadcast awards for her work on the show. She is also a commentator for National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio where she covers religion, interviews poets and authors, and is a guest essayist. She is also a segment producer for the Hallmark Channel program, “New Morning.”Ms. Valente has won numerous awards for her poetry. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver selected her poetry chapbook, “Inventing An Alphabet,” for the national Aldrich Poetry Prize. She was awarded a Jo-Anne Hirshfield Poetry Award in 2005 for her poem “Body & Soul” and an Illinois Arts Council Poetry Award in 2003 for her poem, “Green” She was a finalist in 2004 for the Emily Dickinson Prize from Universities West Press.Her poems have appeared in TriQuarterly, RHINO, Folio, The Rambler, AfterHours, National Catholic Reporter and the anthologies “Best Catholic Writing of 2004” and “Illinois Poets: Where We Live.” She was a 2006 fellow at the Ragdale Foundation artists' colony in Lake Forest, IL. Her poetry often explores the the transcendent in the ordinary, and the mysterious coexistence of life and death.She is co-editor with Charles Reynard of “Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul” (Loyola Press, 2005), an anthology of poems and essays on finding the sacred in the everyday. Ms. Valente and Mr. Reynard give readings and presentations based on their book across the country. They lead spiritual retreats on the theme of “Discovering the Sacred In Daily Life,” and poetry workshops called “Touching the Sacred Through Poetry.”Ms. Valente is currently at work on a new collection of poems, as well as a book of poems with photographs by Chicago photographer John Matt Dorn. She is also writing a collection of personal reflections on the theme of journey.Ms. Valente grew up in Bayonne, NJ in the shadow of New York City. She graduated from the Academy of St. Aloysius in Jersey City, NJ, and received a bachelor's degree in English and classical languages from St. Peter's College in Jersey City. She holds a masters in fine arts in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the daughter of Charles Valente, currently of Mobile, AL and the late Theresa Valente.She is married to Illinois Circuit Court Judge Charles Reynard, also a poet. The couple lives in Chicago and Normal, IL.BIOGRAPHY
Journalist, Poet, Producer
