I am a personal essayist, memoirist, and fiction writer. My work has appeared in The New York Times "Modern Love" column and Motherlode blog; The Washington Post; Narrative; Brevity; Full Grown People; Brain, Child; Motherwell; Cleaver; Memoir Journal and many other popular and literary publications. I earned my BA in literature at Scripps College and my MFA in creative writing and literature at Bennington College.
I am an alumna of the Hedgebrook writers' colony master classes and a recipient of a Martin Dibner Writing Fellowship. I also am the principal of a marketing firm specializing in colleges and universities and have contributed to books and many magazines on the subject of higher education (http://www.andreajarrell.com/.
I write mostly about love and relationships; marriage, parenting and family; and life in recovery (from eating disorders and as the loved one of alcoholics). I have been a daily yoga practitioner for over a decade and yoga sometimes finds its way into my work. I am also a lifelong traveler – place and being a stranger in a strange land are also favorite topics.
I began my career in New York City book publishing working in the publicity department of MacMillan Books and then at women’s magazines including New Woman, Beauty Digest, and freelancing for Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Health.
I grew up in Los Angeles and have lived in Austin, Santa Fe, New York City, Maine, and Paris. I now live in suburban Washington, D.C. with my husband, two children, two dogs and a cat.