Bio

A writer for twenty years, essayist Anna Viadero began her writing career as a freelance writer. Her nonfiction work was published in national magazines like Ms., Yankee, and Bride's (see client list). She is currently editor of The Good Life, the only free, direct mail newspaper for people age 55 and older in Franklin County and the North Quabbin area of Western Massachusetts.

She began writing personal essays in 1995. Her essays have appeared in anthologies like I Wanna Be Sedated and My Heart's First Steps. Her poems have appeared in anthologies like Fresh Water and Essential Love. She is a frequent commentator on public radio in New England and New York. "First Pearl," her favorite work of fiction, was part of the Women's Times' Summer Fiction Issue in 2006. Her essay "Alchemy" was read as a "selected short" on Berkshire Public Radio's Story Time #5 in February 2007.

Founder of Local Color, a decade-old project that collects short memoirs by people age 65 and older in Western Massachusetts, Anna edits and publishes the collection in limited print run for publication annually. Since it began in 1998, Local Color has published the stories of more than 100 senior citizens, most of whom "never considered themselves writers." Local Color: The First Five Years, the collected stories of Local Color volumes 1-5 plus 36 previously unpublished stories, was published by Haley's Publishing in 2003 and is available at www.localcolormemoirs.com and also on Amazon.com.

Anna teaches personal essay and memoir writing to groups in Western Massachusetts as well as through continuing education programs at UMass/Amherst and Holyoke Community College. She has helped many writers get their work published so a larger audience might enjoy it.

A member of the National Writers Union for more than two decades, Anna is committed to helping writers retain rights to their work.

Anna Viadero is a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Eastern Europe during World War II. Her personal essays explore her birth family and the family that was born to her, as well as her work in fiber and fabric art passed down to her from her mother and grandparents.