Writing Compelling Stories of American Life Since 1991
My works focus on little-known, forgotten or overlooked voices and extraordinary stories from the past. I am fascinated by people and what motivates them, and I like to think that my books offer insight into the complex, sometimes confusing, occasionally bizarre, and always unique American character. I began my career as a newspaper reporter in Massachusetts, Florida, and New York. I am a versatile writer. Among my eleven books, I've published fiction as well as nonfiction, and books for adults as well as younger readers. During the pandemic lockdown, I wrote my first historical thriller, Silent Came the Monster, published in May 2023. I love to challenge myself by trying new genres.
Five Things You Didn't Know About Me
1. I was named Amy after a character in the novel Little Women, my mother's favorite comfort book.
2. I am an accidental author. I was a newspaper reporter who wrote a story in 1991 that was read by a publisher who asked me to expand my story into a book. The result was Having Our Say. Sometimes magic happens.
3. I met my husband-to-be in 1983 when I interviewed him for a newspaper story.
4. My dream as a little girl was to become a librarian who lived on a farm and provided a loving home to unwanted dogs.
5. I have a Native American name, Smiling Songbird Woman, given to me in 2010 by a tribal matriarch who was the subject of one of my books.
The Delany Sisters: Honored to be the Keeper of Their Stories
If you're looking for information about the centenarian Delany Sisters of Having Our Say fame, you've found the right person. The sisters are both gone now, and have been for some years, but they left me, their co-author and personal friend, in charge of their legacy. Thus, I'm the go-to person when it comes to rights, or if you have a question about Having Our Say, photographs, their story, or their place in history. I can, also, answer questions about the play (1995) and telefilm (1999), both of which are adaptations of the book. I was an advisor and consultant on both productions. If you can't find my original 1991 New York Times story about the Delany Sisters, which started the whole ball rolling, let me know and I will send it to you. You may reach me by sending a direct email using the contact form on this site.
The daughters of a man born into slavery in the American South and a mother of mixed-race ancestry who could have passed for white but chose not to, the Delany Sisters - Sadie, born in 1889 and Bessie, born in 1891 - shared firsthand accounts of a broad swath of American history as they experienced it as children in Raleigh, North Carolina and, as adults, after relocating to New York during the Harlem Renaissance. By sharing their stories as centenarians, the Delany sisters helped shatter stereotypes of women, Black Americans, and the aged.
Additional information about the Delany Sisters can be found by clicking "Books" in the main menu, then "Having Our Say."