Press Release

MAYWOOD, Ill. – Dr. Anne Gottlieb, an English teacher at Proviso East High School, has published a new chapbook of poetry, They Still Call Us Witches, released by Finishing Line Press. The 22-page collection explores themes of womanhood, transformation and resilience through poems rooted in personal experience and literary tradition.

Gottlieb, who has been in Proviso Township High Schools District 209 for seven years, said the collection grew out of a period of personal reflection and change.

“I was kind of going through some things in my own life,” Gottlieb said. “I grew up with two brothers and was always an athlete, and I never really fit into the typical female narrative. I realized I had a different story — and I wanted to invent my own.”

The poems are arranged chronologically, beginning with Gottlieb’s childhood and moving through adulthood, addressing topics such as misogyny, belonging, motherhood and renewal.

“Our roles as mothers and daughters and working women — there are small but important things we have to do for ourselves to feel renewed and taken care of,” she said.

They Still Call Us Witches makes extensive use of the Golden Shovel poetic form, a structure that incorporates words from existing poems or texts as the final words of each line. Gottlieb said the form allowed her to engage deeply with lines that resonated with her own experiences.

“It was a hard form,” she said. “But once I started, I couldn’t stop. I was finding lines from Abby Wambach’s book, from Gwen Stefani songs — things that really struck me — and building from there.”

In mid-January, Gottlieb held her first public reading and book signing at the Oak Park Library, drawing an audience of approximately 60 to 65 people.

“It was really fun, but very different when you’re the one getting up and reading your own work,” she said. “Seeing that it’s meaningful to people and that it’s resonating with them — that give and take is very similar to teaching, and it’s something I really value.”

As a high school English teacher and sponsor of the Poetry Club at Proviso East, Gottlieb said her work as an educator directly informs her writing — and vice versa.

“I really believe in the power of telling your own story,” she said. “Writing teaches main idea, point of view and stylistic choices. You can’t separate reading skills from writing and the craft of writing.”

Looking ahead, Gottlieb said she continues to write in response to the world around her, particularly as current events affect students and classrooms. She is working on a story that examines how broader societal issues are experienced through the lens of education.

“As a teacher, I want to bear witness and write from that point of view,” she said. “It’s about not feeling powerless and about trying to make a difference through words.”

Gottlieb hopes readers of They Still Call Us Witches find reassurance in the idea that growth and transformation take time.

“Real change doesn’t happen quickly,” she said. “Sometimes you have to sit with that, even when it’s hard.”

Gottlieb will read from They Still Call Us Witches at Luther Village Retirement Home in Arlington Heights at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15. The event is free and open to the public.

The chapbook is available through Finishing Line Press and Amazon.