A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Sandi Sonnenfeld holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Washington where she studied under National Book Award Winner Charles Johnson. The author of more than 30 published short stories and personal essays, Sandi's memoir, This Is How I Speak (Seattle: Impassio Press), which recounts her first year at the MFA program at the UW after surviving a terrifying sexual assault, explores what it means to both a young woman and emerging artist in America during the 1980s. Upon its publication, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association named Sandi a 2002 Celebration Author, which honors writers whose work merits special notice. This is How I Speak was also named a July/August 2002 Booksense 76 finalist. Sandi currently lives in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley and is working on an historical novel. She has taught literature, composition and creative writing classes and workshops at Marist College, Western Connecticut State University, Mount Holyoke College, Pierce College (Washington State) and Seattle Central Community College.