Wendy Swallow

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Wendy W. Swallow grew up in California and Washington, D.C., as the second daughter of a naval officer who loved opera and a mother who sailed and taught her to change a tire. She studied English and Music at Colby College and wrote her first novel one summer as a challenge from her father. After college, she served as a VISTA volunteer in rural Mississippi, then worked in federal anti-poverty programs for several years. She earned an M.A. in Journalism at American University in 1981.

Wendy covered financial issues for The Washington Post for eight years, then returned to American University in 1989 to teach journalism. She has published two memoirs, Breaking Apart: A Memoir of Divorce (Hyperion/Thea 2001) and The Triumph of Love Over Experience: A Memoir of Remarriage (Hyperion 2004). She has also written extensively on journalism and family issues for magazines and newspapers, including MORE, Washingtonian, Ladies' Home Journal, Readers’ Digest, Parenting, The National Journal and Washington Journalism Review.

In 2007, Wendy left teaching to devote her time to writing fiction. She and her husband, Charlie Shepard, split their time between Reno, NV, and Cape Cod. Wendy serves as clerk of the Reno Friends Quaker Meeting, and in her spare time enjoys skiing, piano, yoga, and birding in the mountains. They have four grown sons thriving in far-flung places.