Shawna L. Swetech, RN, is a hospital medical/surgical nurse, retired after 35 years. A prolific poet and mixed-media visual artist, her work ranges from the personal to the political, drawing inspiration from the deep wells of human nature and the natural world. Shawna’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in Rattle, The Healing Muse, Marin Poetry Anthology, California Quarterly, Ars Medica, Pulse, American Journal of Nursing, and Nursing2023, among other journals and anthologies. She is a co-host for the monthly poetry reading series, Rivertown Poets. Shawna’s first full-length collection of medical narrative poetry based primarily on her nursing career, entitled “Standing in Their Fire” is due out late summer of 2025, by Kelsay Books.

She is also a wellness coach, utilizing the teachings from Nichiren Buddhism, nature-based practices, Reiki, nutrition, medicinal herbs, and flower essences. Shawna uses art-making and journaling to help facilitate her clients’ healing journeys. While working in the hospital, she created the Art at the Bedside project, teaching patients to make collages for stress relief, and to journal as a healing and self-reflective practice. For many years, she was also a licensed provider of continuing education for registered nurses through the California Board of Registered Nursing, focusing on various aspects of holistic wellness, including the use of journaling and art practices.

Shawna is a California native, and has lived in Northern California for more than forty-five years. She lives with her husband, a dog, a cat and nine laying hens and has two married adult children and two granddaughters. She enjoys hiking in the local forests, sitting by the ocean, travel-trailering, paddle boarding, and visiting family in California and North Carolina. She has a large garden in which she grows vegetables, medicinal herbs, and a wide variety of weeds. Shawna believes nature, poetry and art are important healing medicines for the ills of our modern world.