Andrea Canaan is a contributor to This Bridge Called My Back: Writing of Radical Women of Color.

In 1980, Andrea sued, on free speech grounds, in Canaan vs the State of Louisiana when she was fired for saying she was a black–lesbian–feminist. Andrea received an MSW from Tulane University in 1975, an MFA in nonfiction from the University of San Francisco in 2014 and an MFA in fiction from Goddard College in 2017.

Since earning her MFA degrees, she has completed a memoir, Black Magnolia, and a historical novel, A Thousand Crowning Sorrows, and is currently in the harrowing and joyful processes of getting them published.  She is also hard at work writing a sequel to the historical novel, The Well of Joy.

Andrea is the founder of A Writer’s Life (Writing and Wellness Practices). She lives in Rio Vista, California, with her partner of 22 years, Joann Johnson.