Writing
Over the course of her career, Judith McDaniel has written across nearly every literary form: memoir, novels, poetry, literary criticism, essays, interviews, reviews, and opinion pieces. Whether writing about feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, peacebuilding, poverty, or democracy, her work is grounded in a simple conviction: that writing can help us better understand ourselves, one another, and the times we live in.
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Books
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Taking Risks: Poems
Risks, both physical and emotional, change the person who takes them. These poems explore these changes in diverse places, including political forums, the wilderness, and the classroom.
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Yes I Said Yes I Will
A Unitarian minister and a high-level government official fall into a passionate love affair, forcing both women to confront the pain of their pasts. But a dangerous enemy threatens their newfound happiness.
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The Lesbian Couple's Guide
A complete guide to lesbian relationships that explores both the practical and emotional dimensions of being a lesbian couple in today's society. Purchase it here.
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Just Say Yes
A graduate student spends the summer in Provincetown, exploring her sexuality, politics, and identity while navigating romance, friendship, and a community confronting homophobia. Purchase it here.
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Metamorphosis: Reflections on Recovery
In an essay preface, McDaniel discusses how feminist use a very patriarchal 12-step program toward recovery. The poems are a record of her personal journey. Purchase it here.
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Sanctuary: A Journey
This account describes Judith’s work in the Sanctuary Movement to aid Central American refugees during the 1980s and depicts her experience being captured by the Contras in Nicaragua.
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The Stories We Hold Secret: Tales of Women's Spiritual Development
(Editor) An anthology of thirty-one short fiction pieces written by and about women in America. Purchase it here.
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Winter Passage
Set in a Vermont village in the 1970s, three women navigate friendship, marriage, motherhood, and unexpected love as each confronts profound changes in her life. Purchase it here.
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November Woman
A chapbook of poems set in nature and academia. Purchase it here.
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Reconstituting the World: The Poetry and Vision of Adrienne Rich
This essay is one of the first to examine the early body of work from a poet who was helping to define feminism in the 1960s and 1970s. Purchase it here.
Selected Literary Criticism, Essays, Interviews, and Reviews
“Brick by Brick: Prisoners Use Writing to Find Freedom”
Review of Breaking Out of Prison by Bernice Mennis. Peaceworks, Issue 394, April 2009.
“Creating the Need to Know”
Educational Technology and Change Journal, May 2009. Read online.
“US Obstructionism in the World Struggle Against Small Arms and Light Weapons”
Peaceworks, Issue 369, October 2006.
“Shaping the Sixties: The Emergence of Barbara Deming”
In Impossible to Hold: Women and Culture in the 1960s, edited by Avital Bloch and Lauri Umansky. NYU Press, 2005, pp. 196–216.
“Creating an International Perspective on Local Activism”
Expanded version in Internationalizing the Curriculum, edited by Mary Lay. Feminist Press, 2002, pp. 265–271.
“The Outrageous Act as Gender Busting: An Experiential Challenge to Gender Roles”
With Sandra Shattuck and Judy Nolte Temple. In Teaching Introduction to Women’s Studies, edited by Barbara Scott Winkler and Carolyn DiPalma. Bergin & Garvey Press, 1999, pp. 213–224.
“Review of A Reader’s Guide to U.S. Women’s History”
Sojourner, September 1998.
“Reflections on the Warriors”
Journal of Women and Religion, Vol. 14, 1996, pp. 16–22.
“Biographical Essay”
In Prisons That Could Not Hold by Barbara Deming. University of Georgia Press, 1995.
“Barbara Deming”
American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 1994.
“Reconstituting the World: The Poetry and Vision of Adrienne Rich”
In Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose, edited by Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi and Albert Gelpi. Norton, 1993, pp. 310–321.
“Three Women Who Refused to Fight: Interviews from the Gulf War”
Listen Real Loud, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1992, pp. 8–11.
“Taking Risks: The Creation of Feminist Literature”
In Bridges of Power: Women’s Multicultural Alliances, edited by Lisa Albrecht and Rose M. Brewer. New Society Publishers, 1990, pp. 122–128.
“One Summer at Seneca”
In Faces and Tongues: Poetry and Prose About People and War, edited by Gary Erb. Laughing Waters Press, 1986, pp. 85–98.
“Teaching Contemporary Black Women Writers”
With Linda Berry. Radical Teacher, Winter 1980–81, pp. 7–10.