Theresa Werba

"One of the living masters of the sonnet, who joins the likes of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Edna St. Vincent Millay as one of a handful of women in history to have become expert in this form" --Andrew Benson Brown. Werba "goes from free verse to villanelle to sonnet with ease and mixes her subjects with acute observation and skill” -- Lynette G. Esposito.  Werba "bridges the frequently hostile gap between traditional metrical rhymed verse and the productions of post-Whitman poets. That in itself is a daring step, and Werba makes it with ease."-- Joseph S. Salemi

THERESA WERBA the author of eight books, four in poetry: What Was and Is: Formal Poetry and Free Verse (Bardsinger Books, 2024), Sonnets (Shanti Arts 2020), Longer Thoughts (Shanti Arts, 2020), and Jesus and Eros: Sonnets, Poems and Songs (Bardsinger Books, 2015). Her work has appeared in such journals as The Scarlet Leaf Review, The Wilderness House Literary Review, Spindrift, Mezzo Cammin, The Wombwell Rainbow, Fevers of the Mind, The Art of Autism, Serotonin, The Road Not Taken, and the Society of Classical Poets Journal. Her work ranges from forms such as the ode and sonnet to free verse, with topics ranging from neurodivergence, love, loss, aging, to faith and disillusionment and more.

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In her book Finally Autistic: Finding My Autism Diagnosis as a Middle-Aged Female she shares the story of her childhood, adolescence, and adulthood as an undiagnosed autistic female who received her autism diagnosis at the age of 53.

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In her book When Adoption Fails: Abuse, Autism, and the Search for My Identity discloses the history about her life as an undiagnosed autistic adoptee, who endured an abusive home and found both her birth mother and father. In Warning Signs of Abuse she gives help for women in the beginning stages of an abusive relationship.​

. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in vocal music performance from Skidmore College and a Master of Music with distinction in voice pedagogy and performance from Westminster Choir College. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Werba is a contributing writer at Classical Singer magazine.

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Her recording Lullabies: Traditional American and International Songs may be found on streaming services (under the name Theresa Rodriguez). Werba is the joyful mother of six children and grandmother to seven. Find Theresa Werba at theresawerba dot com and on social media at thesonnetqueen.