Hi! If you’ve stumbled across my website – more specifically, this “About Me,” page – there’s at least a chance that you’re here to learn more about who I am, what I write, or why I decided writing books would make a fun career in the first place. Operating under this assumption, I hope you’ll indulge me in a little storytelling.
(If you’re just here for my official bio, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page! If you’re wondering about the identity of the handsome man next to me in the photo – that’s my husband, Zayya. He’s a storyteller, too, and he helps me brainstorm and perfect all of my books before they make it to the page.)
I have always been enchanted by words. My ability to read is actually older than my capacity for memory. I don’t remember learning to read because I don’t have any childhood memories from before I knew how!
When I was a child, I’d sit on the couch with a whole pile of books next to me, and I’d read them, one after the other, all afternoon long. At the library, I collected a stack so tall I had to use my chin to balance it as I staggered towards the front counter to check out.
Some people read for entertainment. I have always read for comfort, for nostalgia, to have a feeling of warmth wash over me when I realize that something in me identifies and is captured perfectly in the experience of a character. I view stories as lifelines, outstretched hands extended in welcome, in offers of help, in reassurance that no one is ever truly alone.
When I write, I hope that each one of my books can extend the same message: we’re all human. No matter what you’re going through, someone else has been there, too. And just because the story may not end the way you want doesn’t mean the ending won’t be exquisitely beautiful, anyway.
Official bio:
Olivia Zendo has been working with words for as long as she can remember. Her degree in Creative Writing, English Language, and Literature (Canada’s Western University) introduced her to a variety of industry professionals and deepened her understanding of both the structure of a good story and the publishing industry itself.
Olivia is a self-titled “café aficionado,” although she freely admits that her interest in coffee shops has less to do with the art of the perfect espresso and more to do with the people drinking it! She currently lives in Southern Ontario, Canada, with her husband and their precocious pup, Cassiopeia.
Olivia Zendo 