Writing under the name, Anna Blake Godbout, Nancy Godbout Jurka, a Cold Spring, New York native, is an award winning published poet/writer and photographer. Her poems and  have in appeared in Heron Dance, Shakespeare’s Monkey Revue, The Story Circle Journal, Wyoming Poets Anthology Distant Horizons, and Women Writing the West, The National League of Pen Women Magazine publications. In addition to leading the Teachers as Writers Statewide Committee affiliated with the Colorado Council Reading Association, Nancy has been a poetry and children’s writing judge for the Colorado Independent Publishing Association, and Women Writing the West. She has conducted many writing workshops for teachers, students and the general public in her local area. A graduate of Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York, Nancy has recently retired from a 35 year career in elementary and special education and more recently a school librarian.

Her poetry collection  Journey On: Beauty and Grit Along the Way  has been published by Mountain Tapestry Press and is available at Hooked on Books in Colorado Springs, CO, The Gift Hut, Cold Spring, NY,  and at Covered Treasures Bookstore in Monument, CO. It is also available on Amazon.

In her latest award winning book, Bright Star of Palmer Lake, Nancy Godbout Jurka’s words portray December in a small town nestled against the Rocky Mountains. Kay LaBella‘s breathtaking watercolors create nostalgic whimsy on each page. Words and illustrations create a tour of discovery for anyone who cherishes this beloved bright star on the mountainside. An 2016 CIPA EVVY award winning book in poetry, it is available at Second Star to the Right in Denver, CO, Hooked on Books in Colorado Springs, CO, The Gift Hut, Cold Spring, NY,  and at Covered Treasures Bookstore in Monument, CO. It is also available on Amazon and at www.mountaintapestrypress.ecwid.com

As President of the Pikes Peak Branch of the National League of Pen Women, Nancy has co-authored a book titled The Poetry in the Schools Project. This collection of lessons, poetry, insights from the ongoing Poetry in the Schools Project sponsored by the Pikes Peak Branch of the National League of Pen Women where poetry is taught to elementary school children in Colorado Springs, CO.