Author Biography
Judith Ryan Hendricks
To first time novelist Judith Ryan Hendricks, it was only natural that her heroine turn to baking for comfort and inspiration. A former employee at the MacGraw Street Bakery in Seattle, she had fallen in love with the rhythms of baking long ago. Now a full time writer living in Southern California, Hendricks still keeps a crock of sourdough starter in the refrigerator and couldn't resist weaving easy instructions into the novel for making Wyn's mouth-watering breads, scones and cakes – providing culinary inspiration for her readers! A former copywriter, publicist, computer instructor, travel agent and waitress, Judith Ryan Hendricks lives in Long Beach, California with her husband Geoff.
Judith Ryan Hendricks is the author of the novels Bread Alone and Isabel's Daughter. She lives in Sante Fe, New Mexico, and Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Judith (Judi) Ryan Hendricks was born in San Jose, California, when the Santa Clara Valley was better known for its orchards than for computer chips. She grew up in San Jose and Castro Valley, St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles, where she attended James Monroe High School in Sepulveda.
Literally the morning after graduation, the family moved to Atlanta. She attended Furman University in Greenville, SC and earned a degree in journalism at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Blessed with a short attention span, she worked as a journalist, copywriter, computer instructor, travel agent, and waitress before landing at the McGraw Street Bakery in Seattle, where she fell in love with the rhythms of baking.
From this experience came her first novel, BREAD ALONE , published in the U.S. in 2001 and subsequently translated into 11 languages and distributed in more than 15 countries worldwide. ISABEL'S DAUGHTER, her second book, grew out of her love for and fascination with the Southwest. It was published in June, 2003. Her nonfiction has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle and Tiny Lights, A Journal of Personal Essay, Grand Gourmet in Italy and The London Sunday Express. Her short fiction has appeared in Woman's Weekly and AMERICAN GIRLS ABOUT TOWN, an anthology, in the US and UK. Her third novel, THE BAKER'S APPRENTICE, will be published in April 2005.
She and her husband Geoff now divide their time between New Mexico and British Columbia, and she is at work on her fourth book.
Food Rec
Wyn discovers the wondrous and unexpected healing power of making bread. Try making these delicious treats for your next book club meeting.