As the eldest member of her immediate family, Linda is the keeper of family memories and traditions. When she retired from academia, Linda turned to writing essays about growing up in an Italian American enclave in Pittsburgh in the 1950s to preserve her family’s memories and as a salve to her painful loss of people and community. The essays matured into her first book, Neighborhood Girl, published by Sunbury Press in Fall 2023.

Linda holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Duquesne University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Carlow University where she is also Professor Emerita of Communication. Linda is a long-time writer with Madwomen in the Attic, a diverse community of serious women writers who offer each other support and who share in their love of the written word. She also teaches writing through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Linda has had essays published in Adelaide Magazine, Avalon Literary Journal, Brevity Blog, Northern Appalachia Review, The Write Launch, and elsewhere.

When she’s not writing, Linda spends time in her garden and at her Latin cardio dance class. She also loves reading, playing with her granddaughter, Alex, and exploring her Squirrel Hill neighborhood with her dog, Lizzie.

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