Sherry Cook Stanforth

Sherry Cook Stanforth is a writer, musician, and cultural program designer living along the Ohio River in Clermont County, Ohio. Her 3-generation family band Tellico features themes of the nature, ecology, home place, work, play, survival, and culural traditions inspired by her southern-to- urban Appalachian heritage. Children and adults alike love the high-energy music and storytelling, which is with (not simply "for") people. As founder and director of Thomas More University's Creative Writing Vision program, Sherry also provides interactive educational and public arts programs for diverse populations in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky community. Offerings include creative writing workshops and retreats, uniquely tailored ecology (STEAM) activities, and arts-based Express programs that inspire curiosity about cultural diversity and community building.

Sherry's work as an artist and academic is shaped by her family's southern Appalachian, Tellico Plains Cherokee ancestry and regular I-75 journeys "back home" to visit loved ones. The musical jam circles, mountain and creek excursions, kitchen-table/front-porch storytelling, and joyous intergenerational gatherings of her childhood still define her time and sense of value.