Deborah Coulter-Harris

Deborah Coulter-Harris is an American writer, actor and academic. Currently a Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Toledo, Ohio, her interests include international politics, Middle East studies, British literature, world religions, theater, archaeology, and Ancient history. Coulter-Harris is keen on connecting globalization issues to composition studies.

She acted at the Abbey and Gates theaters in Dublin, Ireland; wrote and performed a weekly radio show for RTÉ in Ireland; worked as speechwriter for the CEO of Mostek Corporation in Dallas; served as Russian linguist in the United States Army; taught at colleges and universities in Greece, Ohio, New York, and Philadelphia, and, served as Middle East Political Analyst at Central Intelligence Agency.

Education
She obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Toledo in 1995 and earlier obtained a M.S. in Business and Human Relations (Abilene Christian University) and a B.A. in English at Fitchburg State College. She graduated from Holy Family High School in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 1966. She has an Honors Diploma in Russian from the Defense Language Institute, and is a graduate of the Sherman Kent School of Analysis, Career Analyst Program at the CIA.

She is active with the University of Toledo’s theatre program and has appeared as Olive in The Women of Lockerbie, 2005, and as Lady Isabella Bird and Joyce in Top Girls, 2007. Coulter-Harris also coordinates the Shapiro Essay Revision Contest at the University of Toledo.

Published works
Coulter-Harris recently published Freed from the Plough and Other Innocent Tales, with Tyborne Hill Publishers; her first poetry collection, The Dirt Road, was published in Dublin, Ireland. Her verse play, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was published in her first major collection of poetry and drama, Stone Keeper, A Collection of Poetry and Plays, by Linus Publications, Inc. in August, 2008. Linus also published her first book on writing, Writers Crossing Boundaries: Writing the Real World in August, 2008.

Writers Crossing Boundaries
Writers Crossing Boundaries: Writing the Real World is a book about the author’s personal development as a professional writer, leaping static boundaries into diverse writing fields, such as corporate, military, creative (including satire), analytic, academic, media, and the CIA. Part I, Writing the Real World, includes 12 Pyramid Steps to Writing Analysis and Research, a logical process for teaching students to conduct research and explore ideas analytically. Part I also contains analytic skills and sample writings from diverse fields. The array of readings in Part II includes: political science, American poetry, British and Irish poetry, satire and religion, with writing prompts for private use or in the writing classroom arena.

Stone Keeper
Stone Keeper is the author’s first large collection of poetry and plays, and contains "Freed from the Plough and Other Innocent Tales", "Stone Keeper", "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon", a verse play, and "Charmed Like a Snake, I’m Sure", a drama about the CIA during the 9/11 crisis. "Freed from the Plough" traces the growth and development of a young girl, ending in her awareness of how the world operates. "Stone Keeper" is a verse dialogue between Stone Keeper and her daughter, and the great pain of losing a golden son. "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon", a two-part 11-act verse play, follows young Daniel’s journey into ancient Babylon, where he meets prophets, Imams, and rabbis; after the hanging of a king, he returns home to his Father’s Forest to share his experiences with his friends. "Charmed Like a Snake, I’m Sure" is a traditional play about fictional characters and events taking place between July and Christmas, 2001 at the Central Intelligence Agency, when Dr. Mysteria tries to uncover why her superiors are editing out Usama Bin Ladin’s location from her reports. The mystery has a surprise ending, after which Dr. Mysteria is ordered to follow a dangerous mission.