Debra Conner began portraying Emily Dickinson in 1997, thanks to a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.  Since then, she has added in-character portrayals of Zelda Fitzgerald, Margaret Mitchell, Margaret Blennerhassett, Rebecca Harding Davis and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker to her program offerings.  “It’s my best chance to be a famous writer,” she claims. 

 She has performed for Humanities Councils in many states, including Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia. She has appeared at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Forbes Gallery in New York City and at the Lewis and Clark Commemorative Celebration in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2009, she portrayed Margaret Mitchell at the Margaret Mitchell/Gone with the Wind Museum in Atlanta.

 As a writer, Debra also conducts workshops and residencies in creative writing. She is part of the Ohio Arts Council and the West Virginia Arts Commission’s arts in education program, and she has published essays and poetry in a variety of publications.

 She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia and a MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College. 

 She and her husband Glenn, who works in commercial photography, make their home in Parkersburg, West Virginia.  Their extended family includes three dogs, three cats and a horse.