A fourth generation Californian, Shirley has always been passionate about living close to the land and protecting the earth. Her first novel, Heart Wood, was written from her homestead in the Sierra Nevada of Northern California that she and her husband built in the 1970’s.

Heart Wood speaks of women’s collective power to protect the earth, and of three family women of the past, present, and future, who are mysteriously connected by an old family writing desk – a desk that enables them to reach through time to support one another in doing what must be done. A speculative, historical, mystical, feminist, eco-fiction novel set in the Sierra and Northern California.

Shirley enriches this intricately woven story by drawing on her background as a school nurse, childbirth educator, and family life education teacher. She is a founding member of Sierra Muses Writing Workshop and Press in Nevada City, has written regular articles for several newspapers. As former Executive Director of a rural non-profit, Shirley has taught community-building workshops and successfully submitted grants to funders. Currently she is senior editor of The Camptonville Courier, a small community newspaper, serves as the family’s historian, and is an avid naturalist.

When she is not writing, she is walking in the woods with her husband and dog, spending time with their two daughter’s families, volunteering in the community, and tending their large homestead garden and orchard.

Website: shirleydickard.com