Dorothy Derifield is the author of Zero Plus Time (Cherry Grove 2020) and the chapbook The River and the Lakes. Since 2004, she has been the director and now co-director of the long-running literary reading series Chapter and Versewhich takes place in the historic Loring Greenough House in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.
She is also on the steering committee for the series Rozzie Reads Poetry in the Roslindale neighborhood. She is a long-time member of the Jamaica Pond Poets who sponsor readings and contribute to community events as well as run a weekly workshop.
For many years, she led groups in a local nursing home that read and discussed poetry. Every week, she put together a suite of poems around a common theme, keeping in mind the interests and backgrounds of the residents.
Before retirement, she was a science and medical writer and editor. Over the years, she wrote articles, contributed to books, and edited journals on a wide range of topics from macro-engineering to pediatric neurology.