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About Samantha

Samantha Shanley’s essays have been published in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Boston Globe Magazine, and other publications. She holds her MFA in Creative Writing from American University and her BA in Religion from Middlebury College. Her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother were all divorced, and as such, she was raised in a complex stepfamily. Her fascination with families and motherhood led her to work with survivors of domestic violence and families in crisis in Boston and South Central Los Angeles. She has lived in Nepal, Ecuador, Peru, and Germany, where she delivered her second child as a midwife corrected her German grammar. Now, she lives in the Boston area, where she leads her own family of three children, along with her ex-husband and co-parent. She is querying agents for her memoir about watching her son survive a near-tragedy and learning to change her family's trajectory at last. She teaches a variety of nonfiction courses at GrubStreet and serves as a consultant for writers working on memoir and essays.