Ann Hostetler is a professor of creative writing and literature at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana. She is the author of one volume of poetry, Empty Room With Light , and the editor of A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry . She has published articles in the Mennonite Quarterly Review and Emerson Studies Quarterly and has published poetry in The American Scholar, The Cream City Review, Mankato Poetry Review and other literary journals (Hostetler 103).
 
Ann Elizabeth Hostetler was born as the eldest child into a Mennonite family in Scottdale, Pennsylvania in 1954. Her parents were both writers, and in 1962 they moved the family to Edmonton, Alberta where her father conducted research on the Hutterites while working as an anthropologist at the University of Alberta (Hostetler 103). Hostetler became interested in and began writing poetry at a very early age. Her fascination with words and the “magic” they created for her came in part from the stories read to her by her parents. One day on the way to church, her mother suggested she fill the time by writing a poem for the church library’s poetry contest. After writing the poem in the car, she entered and won the contest (Interview).
 
Hostetler’s interest in the English language led to many years of study, earning her a BA (in art) from Kenyon College, a Masters in English from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (Hostetler 103). During these years she met and married her husband, with whom she has four children. The family then settled in Wisconsin, where Hostetler taught at Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University School of Milwaukee. During this period, Hostetler received a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board (Hostetler 103).
 
In 1998, Hostetler and her family moved to Goshen, Indiana where she took on the position of professor of creative writing and literature in the Goshen College English Department. The move reintroduced Hostetler to a strong Mennonite community, one that she had lived outside of during her studies and earlier career. Up until this point, Hostetler did not see her Mennonite heritage as playing a role in her life as a poet: “I couldn’t figure out how my Mennonite identity could play a role in my writing; in fact, I kept the Mennonite self and the poetry self very separate” (Bulletin). While Hostetler attempted to reintegrate herself into a Mennonite community, she published her first volume of poetry entitled Empty Room With Light in 2002 at Dreamseeker Books, Pandora Press US.
 
Hostetler first became aware of another Mennonite poet through the work of Julia Kasdorf but it was not until she attended a Cincinnati Mennonite Arts weekend in the mid-1990s that she realized that a network of Mennonite poets existed (Lapp). She suddenly felt motivated to undertake the collection of Mennonite poetry, both Canadian and American, as an inspiration for aspiring Mennonite writers who were not aware of their own community’s literary tradition (Lapp). Through this work, which Hostetler calls “some of the most rewarding scholarly work of my life thus far,” the poet was able to reconnect with her faith community and begin to mesh her Mennonite identity with her identity as a writer (Lapp).
 
A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry , an anthology of Mennonite poetry by 24 American and Canadian poets, was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2003. The author considered the compilation of Mennonite poetry to be a transformative experience: “As I learned to know the many poets and the various relationships they had to a diversity of Mennonite backgrounds, I came to see that there was a place for me as a creative artist in a Mennonite context,” she said (Interview). Hostetler hopes the book will be read by Mennonites and non-Mennonites alike, offering a challenge to stereotypes about Mennonite outsiders might have, and an opportunity for discussion among the Mennonite community (Interview).
 
Hostetler continues to write poetry as time allows. She finds that though she writes primarily for herself, she feels that her work has the ability to resonate with others. She sees poetry as a process and a challenge to issues facing herself and her community. She views poetry as, “language felt physically and viscerally. Poetry is language that weaves a spell, transforms our familiar ways of thinking, and connects us to a larger consciousness--the mind of the writer as expressed in the consciousness of the poem” (Interview).
 

 
Hostetler, Ann. A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003.

Hostetler, Ann. Personal Interview. Nov. 2005.
 
Lapp, Rachel. “ ‘A Cappella’ draws on many voices in Mennonite poetry.” Goshen College Bulletin . (2003). < http://www.goshen.edu/news/bulletin/03dec/01_acapella.php >