This site highlights her writing and showcases
her photos from around the world.
She is a professor in the practice of writing and communication at Rice University in Houston, where she teaches creative writing and literature. She has a PhD in English from Rice and a BA and MA in English from the University of Houston. She has published creative nonfiction, poetry, and scholarly articles on literature, communication, and leadership, and a textbook, Leadership Communication.
Currently, Deborah is writing poetry and creative nonfiction essays, working on publishing her novel, teaching creative writing and women in literature courses, and coaching the Women Writers of Life Stories, a group of talented women writing their memoirs.
Her creative writing is published as Deborah Barrett and Deborah Burch-Lavis.
Recent Awards
John Freeman Faculty Teaching Award, GLS Program, Rice University, 2019
Accepted as Contributor to Bread Loaf Writers Conference for poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction
Selected Publications
"The First Meeting," Out of Line--Who Defines, Wising Up Press, 2024.
"The Peacocks and the Sisters," Soul-Lit, Summer 2024.
"To Reach the Lyre's Strings," SIEVA Magazine, Vol 1, 2023.
The Desert Speaks to the Dreamer, Poetry Chapbook, Finishing Line Press, 2019.
"Max's Story," Historic Heights Living Magazine, 2018
"The Waiting Room," Harmony: Humanities Magazine from the Program in Medical Humanities, 2016
"Am I my Sister's Daughter," Siblings, Muse Write Press, 2015
"The Last Christmas," Shifts, Wising Up Press, 2014, USA Best Book Awards Finalist.
Leadership Communication, 4th edition, 2014.
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