About Debra Lynn Prazak

Debra Lynn Prazak grew up in a small town in North Dakota. She has an undergraduate degree in education from the University of North Dakota and a master’s degree from Hamline University in creative writing. Her poems have appeared in The North Dakota Quarterly. For numerous years, Deborah Keenan, poet and visual artist, has been both teacher and friend.

In her various careers, she’s been an elementary school teacher, data/business analyst, project manager, independent tech consultant, resort head gardener, gardening business owner, and is currently Executive Director of the nonprofit Brainerd Lakes Safe Ride, which she founded. Through these transitions, she has been a student of writing.

She is a needlework artist, upcycles clothing, gardener and amateur nature photographer living in Brainerd, Minnesota with her three dogs.

“Every poem a poet writes is a slight advance of self and slight modification of the mask, the one you want to be. Poem after poem the self grows more worthy of the mask, the mask comes closer to fitting the face. After enough poems, you are nearly the one you want to be, and the one you want to be closely resembles you.” Richard Hugo, The Triggering Town