Esther Margaret Ayers lives and works in Marquette, Michigan as a writer, piano teacher and accompanist.  She studied at the Yeats International Summer School in Sligo, Ireland, and holds a BME in music and an MA in English, both from Northern Michigan University. In recent years she has written the librettos for two large choral/orchestral works commissioned and premiered by the Marquette Symphony Orchestra:  A Child’s Requiem by composer Thomas LaVoy (2013) and Bagidaabii-Neyaashi by composer Griffin Candey (2016). Her poem “White Stones” is the text of a choral piece by LaVoy which has been performed at Carnegie Hall and recorded by the Philadelphia-based professional choir The Same Stream.  Other poems by Ayers have appeared in various publications, including Passages North. She and her husband, Dan Barrington, are the parents of five grown sons.