Meredith Hall is a writer and professor at University of New Hampshire. She is the author of the memoir Without a Map. At age 44, she graduated from Bowdoin College and began writing. Since then, her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Creative Nonfiction, The Southern Review, Five Points, Prairie Schooner, Shunned, and Killing Chickens as well as several anthologies. She has been honored with the Pushcart Prize and “notable essay” recognition in Best American Essays. In 2004, Hall won a $50,000 Gift of Freedom Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation, giving her the time and financial security to write Without a Map. Published by Beacon Press in early 2007, the book has received widespread publicity and has been reviewed in Booklist, The Boston Globe, People, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Elle.
At MacDowell, she continued work on a collection of essays for book Beware, Gentle Stranger.
Portrait by Nick Brown