Shawna Seed grew up in Salina, a town of 40,000 in North Central Kansas. She’s the youngest of three children, but –defying all that birth order stuff – is also the bossiest.
Her parents were avid readers, and that became Shawna’s favorite hobby, too. Like most girls of her era, she loved the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, even the relatively unpopular Farmer Boy and These Happy Golden Years.
She also devoured the children’s biography series available in her school library; her favorite was Sacagawea, American Pathfinder.
She kept a diary, which – mercifully – did not survive. She was first published as a second-grader, when her poem, The Wind, appeared in Highlights.
She was the worst Girl Scout EVER.
Through a friend’s older sister, Shawna discovered the Trixie Belden series, and the fact that the books were several decades out of date did not diminish her enthusiasm for them. One year, she spent her summer-camp craft money on Trixie books. While the other girls were braiding lanyards, Shawna was lying on her bunk, reading.
Shawna has always loved a good mystery.
In high school, she obsessively read John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series. She also worked on her high school newspaper and participated in debate and extemporaneous speaking competitions, thus completing the hat trick of of high school nerdery.
She graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism and a passion for Jayhawk basketball, which has not dimmed.
After college, she embarked on a newspaper career that took her to Florida, Colorado, Ohio and Texas. Along the way she got married, serially adopted cats and entertained several impractical ideas for novels.
In 2006, she left the newspaper business and moved to Los Angeles, where her husband took a job with National Public Radio and she decided to try writing one of those wildly impractical ideas.
Subsequent moves took them to the Washington, D.C., area and then back to Texas.
She and her husband now live in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood with two cats, Lucinda (Lulu) and Clementine (Tiny). After 27 years, she relented on her we’re-too-busy-for-a-dog claim, and Fionnula (Finn) – a yellow lab – joined the crew in 2019.
When she’s not writing, she’s cooking, traveling, or watching basketball (go Jayhawks) or baseball (go Rangers).
When she’s writing, she’s often listening to Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Shelby Lynne or Ruthie Foster.
Her kitchen specialties include Shawna’s Famous Potatoes and chocolate cream pie.
Her favorite Jayhawks are Danny Manning, Ron Kellogg, Rex Walters and Billy Thomas. In case you were wondering.
Other things Shawna likes: midcentury modern architecture, Irish whiskey (neat) and a big sky.
Her favorite writers include Elizabeth George, Ruth Rendell and Kate Atkinson. Because don’t we all love a good mystery?
Twitter: @shawnaseed
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnaseedauthor
Representation: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
LOL!!!!! great home page!!!!