Sonya Lea

Sonya Lea is an American Canadian writer and writing mentor. Her memoir Wondering Who You Are (Tin House, 2015,) about her partner’s memory loss and its impact on her relationship was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Wondering won awards and garnered praise in a number of publications including Oprah Magazine, People, and the BBC, who named it a “top ten book.” Her essays have appeared in Salon, The Southern Review, Brevity, Guernica, Ms. Magazine, The Prentice Hall College Reader, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and more. She is writing an essay collection on the last public execution in America, a legal lynching in Owensboro, Kentucky, where she was born. In Bloodlines: Essays On Lynch Culture, she interrogates ways of remembering and memorializing. Lea has received support from the Canada Council and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for her work. For more go to www.wonderingwhoyouare.com. @sonya_lea