Maggie Messitt, an independent narrative and immersion journalist, has spent the last decade reporting from inside underserved communities in southern Africa and middle America. Typically focused on complex issues through the lens of every day life, her work is deeply invested in rural regions, social justice, and environmental sustainability.
A dual-citizen, Messitt lived in northeastern South Africa, from 2003 to 2011. During this time, she was the founding director of a writing school for rural African women, editor of its community newspaper and international magazine, and a freelance reporter. Since returning to the United States, her reportage has been recognized by Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies; she was awarded a Multimedia Reporting Fellowship at the Knight Digital Media Center, UC-Berkeley; and she was named a Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Fellow.
Messitt currently resides in southeast Ohio where she’s completing her doctorate in Creative Nonfiction and working on her next book, a hybrid of memoir and investigation. When she's not teaching or writing, she spends her time exploring the foothills of Appalachia, kayaking the Ohio River, and collecting stories in places you'll never visit.
The Rainy Season is her first book.