Smoky Trudeau Zeidel

Smoky Trudeau Zeidel is the author of three novels, The Storyteller’s Bracelet, The Cabin and On the Choptank Shores; and two books of nonfiction: Smoky’s Writer’s Workshop Combo Set, and Observations of an Earth Mage, a photo/essay collection of her reflections on nature. She has also authored numerous short stories and a short biography, In a Flash, about her experience of being struck by lightning 23 years ago. All her books are published by Vanilla Heart Publishing of Everett, WA.

A graduate of North Central College in Naperville, IL, Smoky taught fiction writing and creativity workshops at community colleges and other venues in the Midwest for many years before selling nearly all her worldly goods, packing up her daughter, and moving to California, where she swears the climate is much more conducive to creative work.

Smoky and her husband Scott live with a menagerie of animals, both domestic and wild, in a ramshackle cottage in the woody hills overlooking the San Gabriel Valley and Mountains beyond. When she isn’t writing, she likes to spend her time hiking and camping with Scott in the mountains and deserts, exploring tide pools, and resisting the urge to speak in haiku.