Amanda Eyre Ward is a renowned author, known for her works in mystery, romance, and literary fiction. She was born in New York City in 1972 and spent her childhood in Rye, New York. It was only during her teenage years that she moved to Kent, Connecticut. Ward's love for writing began at a young age, and she wrote for the Kent News while attending the Kent School.
Ward pursued her passion for writing at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where she majored in English and American Studies. She further honed her writing skills by studying fiction writing with Jim Shepard. During her junior year, she spent a semester in coastal Kenya, an experience that would later influence her writing. After graduation, Ward taught at Athens College in Greece for a year before moving to Missoula, Montana to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing at the University of Montana.
Ward's writing career took off after she moved to Austin, Texas, in 1998. She began working on her first novel, "Sleep Toward Heaven," while also writing for the Austin Chronicle and working for various Internet startups. In 2000, she married the geologist Tip Meckel in Ouray, Colorado, and the couple spent a summer in New Orleans, Louisiana, where Ward wrote two short stories. After finishing "Sleep Toward Heaven," she traveled to London and Paris to promote the book, which won the Violet Crown Book Award and was optioned for film by Sandra Bullock and Fox Searchlight.
Ward has since published several critically acclaimed novels, including "How to Be Lost," "Forgive Me," "Close Your Eyes," "The Same Sky," "The Nearness of You," and "The Jetsetters." Her writing has been described as "dark secrets" literary fiction, and she has won numerous awards for her work. Ward currently resides in Austin, Texas, where she writes every morning and spends afternoons with her children. Her latest novel, "Lovers and Liars," is set to be published in May 2024.