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Patricia Baird Greene is a writer who believes that interesting experiences, both inner and outer, are the most creative teachers. She has led a life of variety--careers in film, graphic design, social work, alternative energy education, folk singing, construction, as well as political and environmental activism and mothering. Her adventures have taken her from New York City to Copenhagen, rural Massachusetts to the Caribbean, far upstate New York to off-season Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod to rural New Hampshire where she is now an off-grid homesteader and gardener on a land trust.
(Complete story on the Bio Page.) Her first highly praised novel, The Sabbath Garden, was published for young adults by Penguin USA. It is about the unlikely relationship of a troubled black teenager and an elderly Orthodox Jewish man who together find respect for each other and heal their dangerous neighborhood by planting a community garden. It was inspired by her experiences working in housing with varied cultures on the Lower East Side of New York in the 1970s. She was also part of the Green Guerillas, the first New York City group to plant a community garden in a vacant lot. (See Publications for information and reviews.) Patricia has published essays, short stories, magazine articles and memoir pieces. She has been a newspaper reporter and a managing editor on the national alternative energy and lifestyles magazine New Roots. In 2006 she was first place winner of the North Country Public Radio Writers Prize for her memoir called The Day Before the Auction about her experiences working with a New England dairy farmer in the barn as his long years in farming come to an end. She is currently at work on a Cape Cod historical novel The Paradise Bird. It tells the story of Mary Hallett, lover of the pirate Black Sam Bellamy, whose treasure laden ship was wrecked off the Cape in 1717. (See New Books and Excerpts page for details.) Also in the works is her first short story collection Coming of Age about older people making new decisions. Next on the agenda is updating an already completed contemporary novel set in an intentional community dedicated to creating change in the world that is fighting a gas pipeline on their land. Patricia is also available for editing work on fiction and non-fiction manuscripts. Says Helen Hossley, author of Do I Get to Wear That Neat Hat? A National Park Ranger's Story, 2015, Shires Press: "Without Patricia's keen eye and intuition for good storytelling, this book would have been a disjointed collection of stories. Her loving guidance teased out the details and hidden trajectories. I am forever grateful for her guiding me into the art of storytelling and helping me to be a better writer." Top photo taken on outer beach of Cape Cod, the site of much of her upcoming novel The Paradise Bird. Many of the great photos on this website are by Emily S. Greene. |