Writer and teacher Karen Hering has been immersed in the work of words for most of her life.She is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, chaplain and author of Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within. Serving as consulting literary minister in St. Paul, Minnesota, Karen leads guided writing sessions, retreats and communications workshops in community, congregational and workplace settings. Her writing has appeared in literary journals, periodicals and meditation anthologies, and her interest in the transformative power of words has spurred her to lead a Nicaraguan literary tour exploring the role of poetry, literature and imagination in movements for social change.