Sarah Pekkanen

Sarah Pekkanen is the internationally and USA Today bestselling author. A former investigative journalist and feature writer, her work has been published in The Washington Post, USA Today, and many others. Pekkanen was born in New York City, after which her family moved to Bethesda, Maryland. Here, Pekkanen, along with a co-author, wrote a book entitled “Miscellaneous Tales and Poems.” Young Pekkanen sent a sternly-worded letter to publishers asking them to respond to her manuscript. Pekkanen no longer favors Raggedy Ann stationery, although she is sure it impressed top New York publishers.

After college, Pekkanen began work as a journalist, covering Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, Pekkanen could not understand the thick drawls of the U.S. Senators from Alabama, resulting in many unintentional misquotes. Pekkanen was groped by one octogenarian politician, sumo-bumped off a subway car by Ted Kennedy, and unsuccessfully sued by the chief of staff to a corrupt U.S. Congresswoman. She also worked briefly as an on-air correspondent for e! Entertainment Network, until the e! producers realized that Capitol Hill wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, what one might call sexy.Pekkanen also took a job writing features for the Baltimore Sun, and interviewed the actor who played Greg Brady. She refrained from asking if he really made out with Marcia, but just barely.

Having later left her journalism job to chase around her two sons, the ever-active Jack and Will, Pekkanen started writing a column for Bethesda Magazine and began work on a novel. She did not write it on Raggedy Ann stationery. Her first book, "The Opposite of Me," came out in 2010 and her second, "Skiping, a Beat" in 2011. Those were followed by "These Girls" in 2012, "The Best of Me" in 2013, "Catching Air" in 2014 and "The Wife Between Us" in 2018. "An Anonymous Girl," co-writeen by Greer Hendricks, became an instant New York Times #1 Bestseller, and her latest novel, "You Are Not Alone," is anticipated in 2020.