About Shirley DicKard: Author of Heart Wood

My introduction to environmental activism happened Italian-style while modeling for leather designer, Senior Albion, in Florence, Italy in the 1970s. By combining fashion with protest, he caught the public’s attention by staging his fashion models in flashy media events to uncover Italy’s environmental degradation and corrupt politics.

Closer to home, when the county water agency proposed building a dam in 1999 that would submerge a third of our rural school’s families, I organized media coverage for the student’s protest presentation to the County Board of Supervisors. Dam plans were tabled and the story was re-told in Heart Wood.

Being an avid family historian, when I inherited my great-grandmother Emily Hoppin’s scrapbook from the Gold Rush days, I knew I had to tell her story.
That was the seed that grew into my novel, Heart Wood. 

An active participant in the writing community, I am a member of Sierra Writers, a founding member of the Sierra Muses Press, a former producer of the Nevada County Women’s Writing Salon, and I volunteer as senior editor of a community newspaper. Since 1996, I have been a guest lecturer, panel member, facilitator, and trainer at conferences, workshops, and training on Asset-Based Community Development within the western states.

When not writing, I can be found walking in the woods with my husband and dog, spending time with our two daughters’ families, volunteering in the community, and tending our large homestead garden and orchard, canning tomatoes, and saving seeds.