Cathleen Miller is a bestselling American author, journalist, and public speaker. She has traveled around the globe to write her books telling the stories of people and places. She’s interviewed diplomats and heads of state on five continents, patients in an Addis Ababa hospital, rape camp survivors in Kosovo, and midwives in the mountains of East Timor. Her work sometimes places her in strange circumstances, for example cruising St. Petersburg in a Winnebago to interview prostitutes, and running down a Brazilian mountain at midnight fleeing bandits. Miller is the author of Champion of Choice (University of Nebraska Press), the story of UN leader Nafis Sadik, named one of the top biographies of the year by the American Library Association. Dr. Sadik’s work managed to cut the global birthrate in half by giving females access to birth control and education. Ted Turner, founder of CNN, provided this blurb: “A beautiful and long-awaited tribute to one of the greatest women’s advocates of the 20th century.” Miller also wrote Desert Flower (Harper Collins), the life story of Waris Dirie, which describes the Somali nomad’s experience with female genital mutilation. This book’s print version has sold 11 million copies in 55 languages, and the UN believes its powerful message has played a major part in stopping FGM. In both Desert Flower and Champion of Choice, Miller utilizes storytelling as a rhetorical device to demonstrate how the issues which affect one individual are representative of a larger world order. Desert Flower was adapted as a feature film, released in 34 nations to date. The Birdhouse Chronicles (Lyons Press) is Cathy’s memoir, telling the story of leaving San Francisco, buying a dilapidated farmhouse sight unseen, and living amongst the Amish. As Booklist says: “If you move to the country and feel compelled to write about it, let Miller be your guide.” Recently released as an audio book read by Grammy-nominee Garrison Starr. A winner of the Society of American Travel Writers’ gold award, Miller’s travel essays have appeared in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Times. She taught creative writing at San José State University for fifteen years, where she directed the prestigious speakers’ series, the Center for Literary Arts.