Virginia Castleman

Virginia’s life began on a bumpy road along the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, where she and her birth siblings (two sisters, one brother) were placed in temporary foster homes and eventually ended up in an orphanage. They stayed there for a year before a family came in looking to adopt a child. Virginia was lucky. She was chosen. Sadly, it was not with her siblings.

It took Virginia 30 years to find her sisters and brother. They are now spread across the United States like the wildflowers they were. She has discovered half-brothers and sisters and learned the “stories” of how they got where they are today.

Virginia’s past work experiences have crossed many paths. She taught with the Children’s Institute for years and had numerous articles published in the Children’s Writer. She sold articles to newspapers and stories to Highlights for Children. She also worked as a publicist for Moon Publications, a travel handbook publisher, and later for Huntington Press. Virginia went on to use her Master’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Children’s Lit, Psychology, English, and Education) to teach at the college level, teaching English classes at Morrison University and most recently at Truckee Meadows Community College. She then worked with Veterans Upward Bound as their writing specialist, and now happily teaches through Adult Basic Education at TMCC, where students from all over the world join her class to learn to speak, write, and read English.

Virginia has taught creative writing, short story writing, and other writing-related classes through E.P.I.C., a community-based program also at the community college, for over a decade. She is working with screenwriter Paul Hoppe on screenwriting and novel writing classes.

When she is not teaching, Virginia writes and teaches about writing short stories and novels. Her novels include Sara Lost and Found (Simon & Schuster), its sequel, A Jail with Feathers (Archway), Erosion (Perfection Learning), Mommi Watta, Spirit of the River (Flatlands Tales Publishing), and Puppetbooks (Hearthsong), her patented cloth books that turn into workable puppets. Three novels she’s currently marketing include A Lone Shovel Wounds the Earth, Split Decisions, and its sequel Mixed Signals, all laced with true events.

Virginia has three incredible sons, Michael, Adam, and Jonathan, and lives in Nevada.