Writing gets into your blood, much I suppose like any art or profession you’re passionate about. From the time I was a young girl, when I lay beneath apple trees in the backyard and devoured one book after another, until now when I continue to read voraciously, and write whenever possible, books are my life. I should say: stories are my life. True stories and fictional ones.
At the Tate Modern in London.
Herta Feely is the author of Saving Phoebe Murrow, a tale of suspenseful fiction, and has recently finished her next novel, Strange Shape of Love. Currently, she is working on a memoir, Angels in Disguise, a story of her daring escape in Bogota, her subsequent arrest and ultimate return to freedom with the generous and unexpected help of people along her difficult journey. Herta's short fiction and short memoir have been published in a number of literary journals and anthologies, including The Sun, Lullwater Review, The Griffin, Provincetown Arts Magazine, Big Muddy, Hurricane Review, Potomac Review, Enhanced Gravity, and She Can Find Her Way: Women Travelers at Their Best.
"The Wall," a memoir about her immigrant experience was published in Big Muddy and Hurricane Review and received the "best published essay" award from the American Independent Writers Assoc. Herta also received writing fellowships for a novel in progress from the James Jones Literary Society and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She is the co-editor and publisher of an anthology of 22 authors' short stories and memoir, titled Confessions: Fact or Fiction?, in which she explores the blurred line between true stories and fictional ones. This project was inspired by the scandal surrounding James Frey's memoir, A Million Little Pieces.
In addition to writing, she is an editor, writing coach, and ghostwriter at Chrysalis Editorial, where she has worked with hundred of writers helping them transform their writing into publishable form. She also reviews books on Goodreads. In addition, Herta (with Emily Williamson) conducts a series of webinars (Now That You’re Done, What’s Next?), which focus on the nuts and bolts of revision, getting published, and marketing your book.
In 2019, Herta received the DC Mayor’s Arts Awards for Excellence in the Humanities for her “hard work, creative talent and advocating for child safety.”
She has worked for a variety of causes, ranging from human rights violations to alternative energy to childhood injury prevention. In 1988, she co-founded the National Safe Kids Campaign (now Safe Kids Worldwide) with pediatric trauma surgeon, Martin Eichelberger, MD. In 2023, SKW honored her with the first ever "Herta Feely Communications and Advocacy Award," which in future years will be awarded to a deserving Safe Kids coalition, of which there are more than 400 in the US. For more information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herta_Feely.
Herta was born in Yugoslavia (when there was such a place), grew up in southern Germany, then St. Louis, and finally California. She received a degree in Latin American history at UC Berkeley, and also completed her studies at the university’s graduate journalism program. From Johns Hopkins University she received a Master of Arts in Writing.
She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, where she reads and writes, and tends to her many orchids. In her spare time, she travels the world and visits with her children. Son, Jack, also a world traveler, lives in new York; Max and Megan, her son and daughter-in-law, live in San Francisco with their daughter Andi Rose, son Jimmy, and huge dog, Alfie.
In 2019, Herta received the DC Mayor’s Arts Awards for Excellence in the Humanities for her “hard work, creative talent and advocating for child safety.”
She has worked for a variety of causes, ranging from human rights violations to alternative energy to childhood injury prevention. In 1988, she co-founded the National Safe Kids Campaign (now Safe Kids Worldwide) with pediatric trauma surgeon, Martin Eichelberger, MD. In 2023, SKW honored her with the first ever "Herta Feely Communications and Advocacy Award," which in future years will be awarded to a deserving Safe Kids coalition, of which there are more than 400 in the US. For more information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herta_Feely.
Herta was born in Yugoslavia (when there was such a place), grew up in southern Germany, then St. Louis, and finally California. She received a degree in Latin American history at UC Berkeley, and also completed her studies at the university’s graduate journalism program. From Johns Hopkins University she received a Master of Arts in Writing.
She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, where she reads and writes, and tends to her many orchids. In her spare time, she travels the world and visits with her children. Son, Jack, also a world traveler, lives in new York; Max and Megan, her son and daughter-in-law, live in San Francisco with their daughter Andi Rose, son Jimmy, and huge dog, Alfie.
