Biography

I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy.

Anais Nin

The Image of a Writer

Coleen T. Houlihan is a novelist and poet who studied writing at Wellesley College where she received her BA.  She has featured at Stone Soup, Best Sellers, A Tapestry of Voices at Borders, the Sherman Cafe and Walden Poetry Series and published poetry in The Alewife, The Wilderness House Literary Review, Ibbetson Street Press, Spare Change and an erotic literary journal out of England. Her poetry can be described as sensual, magical, light and dark, with images so vivid you can lose yourself in her hauntingly beautiful world. She has released two chapbooks, the most recent titled, This Human Heart, a collection of eight poems spanning several years. In This Human Heart, the depth of the heart is explored and what is found is a fortress filled with light and darkness. Although at times what is contained in the human heart is disturbing, there are qualities innately human that are always present, such as the need to persevere and the belief that love has the power to save. One simply has to try.

Coleen Houlihan is also the author of two children's books: Jason's Tree, a novel which uses the allegory of a small tree growing and budding to show a young boy that he too needs to be nurtured and loved, and Peter Peeks at Planets, an adventure through the solar system. She has written three novels, two of which she is seeking representation for. Sometimes the Bull Wins is an eerie and compelling piece, hinting at the necessity of traversing through life’s nightmares in order to access the rumored dream.  Her novel Beautiful Bastard is a mix of eclectic characters and deep ruminations.
For excepts of her work, see the Poetry, Novels, Songs, and Short Stories pages.

An only child, Coleen Houlihan grew up in Connecticut and has lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts where she currently resides.  Aside from a love of writing and reading, Coleen enjoys movies, specifically 1970s horror films (it’s not her fault, she was raised on them), dancing, music, traveling, animals, food, beauty and everything else fabulous. 

 Photo by Bill Perrault