Poet Laureate of Old Saybrook

Patricia Horn O'Brien

Pat is a graduate of Columbia School of Social Work and has worked and volunteered as a social worker throughout her adult life. She’s a long time member of the Guilford Poets Guild and in 2012 co-founded a local poetry group, CT River Poets which now boasts 15 accomplished and productive poets.  She's helped in the establishment of Prison Hospice in three CT prisons and facilitated poetry workshops at York C.I.  Pat initiated the ongoing program, Paintings and Poetry, at Florence Griswold Museum.  Pat and Judy Perry and Jerry Silbert have produced and performed Getting It Together, the stories of how painting, poetry and music helped  each of them survive life-challenging events.

​Pat's been published in several periodicals, including CT River Review, CT Review, Embers, Pulp Smith, Poet Lore, Caduceus, Red Fox Review, Freshwater and Connecticut Review and is the winner of several awards, including from Embers, Connecticut River Review, The Almeda  Boulton Memorial Contest and the Acton Library in Old Saybrook CT where she resides with her husband, John ... not too far from their three sons where they reside with their excellent partners.  Pat's first collection of poetry, When Less Than Perfect is Enough was published by Antrim Books and is now in its 2nd printing.