Salish Sea Writers Biographies
- Trained as a neuroscientist, Lizbeth Anne Adams currently works in medical ethics. Her creative nonfiction has been published in Memoirs in the Light of Day and the online magazine The Motherhood Muse. She lives near Seattle with her husband.
- Meredith Bailey earned an MFA in creative writing. Her fiction has appeared in various journals, including Shark Reef and Em Dash Literary Magazine, where her story was selected for the Editor’s Choice Award in fiction. She is currently working on a novel.
- Barbara Helen Berger is an artist and writer living on Bainbridge Island. She is the author-illustrator of ten children’s books, including Grandfather Twilight, and her essays have frequently appeared in Parabola magazine. Learn more at www.bhberger.com.
- An editor for thirty years, Marlene Blessing’s winding path has included running a poetry press, working as a features editor for the Seattle Weekly, serving as an editorial director for several regional publishing houses, and working as a magazine and book department editor for Interweave, a press dedicated to the art of the handmade. Her anthology, A Road of Her Own: Women's Journeys in the West, honors her lifelong love of story and the West.
- Susan Bloch is a global leadership coach and the coauthor of four business books including The Global You and How to Manage in a Flat World. She is also a blogger for The Huffington Post. Learn more at www.krwinternational.com.
- Margaret Combs is a former National Public Radio reporter and education correspondent for The Boston Globe. She is a recipient of both the Associated Press Award for Arts Reporting and the United Press International Award for Best Documentary. Learn more at www.margaretcombs.com.
- Laura Bowers Foreman is a writer, teacher, and editor and a recipient of an Honorable Mention Award by New Millennium Writings. As both a novelist and nature writer, she has published in various magazines, journals, and anthologies. Learn more at www.laurabowersforeman.com.
- Kip Robinson Greenthal founded Seattle Arts & Lectures' award-winning Writers in the Schools program. Now a full-time writer, she has published several short stories in print and online publications, including Shark Reef's anthology, Currents. Greenthal has also completed her first novel, Shoal Water, set in Nova Scotia.
- Mary Matsuda Gruenewald survived the Japanese-American concentration camps of World War II and went on to a successful career as a nurse and administrator. She gives readings from her first book, Looking Like the Enemy, and speaks publically about her experiences in the camps. Learn more at www.lookingliketheenemy.com.
- A psychotherapist in Seattle, Donna James specializes in couples therapy and adult development. She has written professionally on client suicide. James also practices ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging, and has published essays about this experience in Seattle Sogetsu Branch Magazine.
- Catherine Johnson lives, writes, and farms on Vashon Island, Washington. Her essays and poems have appeared in various magazines and anthologies including Face to Face: Women Writers on Faith, Mysticism, and Awakening and Yoga Journal. Currently, she is working on a memoir.
- After a successful twenty-year career in business, Susan Little turned to writing. Her book, Disciple: A Novel of Mary Magdalene, can be found at www.disciplemary.com and in audio form at Audible.com and Audiobooks.com.
- Amanda Mander is a designer, writer, and mother of four. She is the 2013 winner of the Travelers’ Tales Solas Gold Award for best love story and is currently collaborating with a visual artist on a book of poems to be published in 2014. Learn more at www.writerarmander.com.
- Clare Hodgson Meeker is an award-winning author of ten published books and more than twenty magazine stories for children. She teaches writing and makes author appearances in schools and conferences throughout Washington State and Oregon. Learn more at www.claremeeker.com.
- Mary Anne Mercer is a faculty member in global health at the University of Washington in Seattle where she focuses on maternal and child health. She also blogs for The Huffington Post.
- Suzanne Montagne has been published in Lost Magazine. She is writing a collection of essays about her thirty years working as a nurse in Seattle.
- Wendy Noritake is a periodicals publisher and marketing communications executive. Her stories have appeared in Lost Magazine and About Place Journal. Currently, she is writing about travels abroad and life on the Salish Sea. Learn more at www.wendynoritake.com.
- Kathy Opie has been published in the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation Newsletter and the Go4theGoal Pediatric Cancer Foundation Newsletter, as well as Northwest Cable News. She is currently working on a book for caregivers and writes a blog. Learn more at www.alittlesomethingtochewon.com.
- Ursula Popp is an eclectic healer-medicine woman and educator dedicated to all life forms. In Europe, she worked in publishing and as a book reviewer. Her writing has appeared in professional journals as well as The Sun magazine. Popp's work will also appear in Sandy Boucher’s new book on Kuan Yin to be published by Goddess, Inc. Learn more at www.ursulapopp.com.
- Lindsay Pyfer is a senior writer at Microsoft and writes creative nonfiction. Her work has been published inThe Huffington Post and Conversations Across Borders. She lives with her husband near Seattle.
- Kimberly Richardson holds a sixth-degree black belt in aikido and a master’s degree in psychology. She is the founder of Two Cranes Aikido School and Two Cranes Institute, which provides leadership programs to increase compassion and decrease violent action in our communities. Richardson is the author of the children’s book, Gus Learns to Fly.
- John Runyan is a life-long listener, learner, educator, leadership consultant, and community activist. He began memoir writing and recording material for an audio book in 2004. Runyan lives on Vashon Island with his wife, Merrilee.
- Janet McLain Smith is a mom, a published poet, a long-time psychotherapist, and educator. She is the founder of The Mother House Fund (www.motherhousefund.org), a nonprofit supporting local and global efforts to promote life-changing outcomes for mothers and their children.
- Elizabeth Van Deventer is an anthropologist turned farmer and writer. Her Virginia farm has been featured in public talks, blogs, and magazines, including Southern Living and Mother Earth News. She is currently working on a children’s book and a memoir.
- Tess Williams draws from years as an environmental executive, entrepreneur in the tourism industry, and parent to a special needs child. In addition to a world traveler, she is a founding member of Friends of the Farms for whom she produced a cookbook.