THE MORE-OR-LESS OFFICIAL VERSION
;)
Sara J. Henry's first novel is LEARNING TO SWIM, which Daniel Woodrell describes as “an auspicious debut” and Jamie Ford calls “a mesmerizing confluence of mystery, intrigue, and suspense, with undercurrents of deep personal drama.” It's set in the Adirondacks in upstate New York, where Sara was a newspaper sports editor and freelance writer. It is an audio book for Audible.com and was released in Germany by DTV. It won the 2012 Anthony Award and 2012 Agatha Award for best first novel and the 2012 Mary Higgins Clark Award, was an Emerging Author pick at Target, and was a finalist for the Barry and Macavity awards. The Boston Globe named it one of the best crime novels of the year: "Compulsively readable, this is all about what we do for love."
The sequel, A COLD AND LONELY PLACE, will be out in February 2013 and is a Reader's Digest Select Edition for July 2013.
Sara has a master’s degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, was an editor at Rodale Books and at Womens Sports & Fitness magazine, and is an alumna of Squaw Valley Writers Conference. She has edited many nonfiction books, worked as a correspondence writing school instructor, written for numerous magazines, and written and cowritten several nonfiction books. (She's also been a soil scientist, website designer, and bicycle mechanic.)
She’s from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and now lives on a dirt road in southern Vermont with at least one too many dogs.
Note: Never believe workers at an animal shelter when they tell you they think a dog is three years old. He isn't, and he will grow to 105 pounds.
IN SARA'S WORDS
Yes, I have at least one too many dogs. All are rescued, except Emma, the blond retriever/Lab mix, who cost $25 and was just over three pounds at age six weeks - the vet said "she may not make it through the weekend." She's going on 16 now. They don't understand writing schedules or deadlines, and think a sunny Vermont day necessitates a long break down at the river. And since there are more of them than of me, they usually prevail.
Which isn't a bad thing.
I've been writing forever (my first "short story" was at age 5, something about a dog biting through my dad's wristwatch when he visited my uncle's junk yard, er, wrecking yard, er, used car facility), and started what I called a newspaper at age 10. I've been a newspaper feature writer and sports editor and magazine and book editor, and wrote parts of a bunch of health and fitness books. But my true love is fiction.
Along the way I've had jobs as a soil scientist, bicycle mechanic, webmaster, and probably a few more I've forgotten, like working in the cafeteria at university.
I grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (Atomic City USA), graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and in between took journalism classes at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I got my start writing freelance sports features at the Longview Daily News in Washington State, and lived in Richland, Washington, where I freelanced for the Tri-City Herald.
Like my main character, Troy Chance, I lived in Lake Placid, New York, in a house with a lot of roommates, and worked as sports editor at The Adirondack Daily Enterprise in nearby Saranac Lake, and freelanced for magazines. And had a dog named Tiger.
I blog at Sara in Vermont. You can email me here. Or follow me on Twitter. And here's my Facebook author page.