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Carol Connolly


CAROL CONNOLLY, Saint Paul’s first Poet Laureate, is the author of Payments Due, a collection of poems published by Midwest Villages and Voices, founded by poet Meridel LeSueur. Later released in a revised edition as Payments Due: Onstage Offstage, the book is now in its third printing. Payments Due was originally produced for the stage by OBIE winner C. Bernard Jackson at the Ivar Theater in Los Angeles and then by the Lyric Theatre in Minneapolis. It ran for two seasons in each venue.

Connolly has worked as a writer with the New York-based Warner Brother’s Wonder Woman Foundation; asSaint Paul Pioneer Press “Connections” columnist; MplsSt Paul Magazine “People” columnist; as KARE 11 TV on-air Duchess of Dish; and 1500 KSTP AM talk-radio commentator. She appeared, with her poems in Dudley Riggs “What’s So Funny About Being Female,” and has lectured and performed her poems around the country and in Ireland.

Connolly curates the long-running Readings by Writers series for Intermedia Arts’ Literary Programs (formerly SASE: The Write Place) at the University Club of Saint Paul. Her Hearsay column appears in each issue of Minnesota Law & Politics magazine. She is a Star Tribune books reviewer, and serves on the board of the Saint Paul ALMANAC. Connolly began writing at age 40, after completing a workshop in journal keeping.

Carol Connolly was the first woman, and first person not of color, appointed to serve on and then chair the Saint Paul Human Rights Commission. She served three terms as Minnesota Racing Commissioner, founding that board’s Affirmative Action Committee; is a founder and was co-chair of the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus; managed the initial campaign of Supreme Court Justice Rosalie E. Wahl, first women to serve in that position; and, since 1968, has been a fundraiser for local and national feminist candidates.

In 2004, she was named Distinguished Irish Woman by the Saint Patrick’s Day Association. In 2006, Mayor Chris Coleman named Connolly Saint Paul’s first Poet Laureate, and The Carol Connolly Reading Series (formerly SASE’s About Town) was renamed in honor of her many achievements and longstanding support of SASE’s literary programs and mission to bring the literary arts to everyone.

Connolly is the mother of eight children and has eleven grandchildren.