Nancy McWhorter Fisher is a former English professor, having taught at Tennessee Wesleyan College for many years. Before that, she was one of the founding faculty at Roane State Community College.
She has published in Wind, Apalachee Quarterly, and other journals. She was the featured poet in 1984 in Teaching English in the Two Year College. Her previous books include a chapbook,Witnessing (1988) and Vision at Delphi (1995). Professional articles appeared in Teaching English in the Two Year College and Journal of Psychological Type.
As an undergraduate at Woman’s College UNC (now UNC-Greensboro), she studied under Randall Jarrell. Poets, he said, stand in the rain waiting to be hit by lightning. She has been blessed with gentle rain, only occasional lightning. What Jarrell gave to his students, she has labored to pass on to hers--a love of poetry. After an MA from Florida State University, she finished her doctorate at UT-Knoxville, writing her dissertation on Jarrell.
She is married to William D. Fisher, former Oak Ridge biologist turned optomotrist. Their son, Karl, teaches Spanish and their daughter, Karen, is an optician. Two grandsons, Bill and Zach, are just reaching adulthood.
She currently lives with her husband in Kingsport, Tennessee.