Josh Swiller is the author of the Young Adult novel Bright Shining World, published fall 2020 by Knopf, and the bestselling memoir, The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa, which was published by Henry Holt.

I grew up deaf in the mainstream in New York City, studied literature at Yale, fought fires and deforestation as a ranger in the California Redwoods and poverty and disease as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Zambia. I was a Zen monk for seventeen years, a Professor at Gallaudet University, the National University for the Deaf, and also studied with Peruvian shamans, Osteopathic Physicians and Biodynamic Craniosacral therapists. Among various careers I worked as a hospice social worker for a decade.

Through all these journeys I continued to write and my writing has appeared in many publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Washingtonian Magazine. My short story, Suddenly, the Apocalypse, won a national short fiction contest and my essay, I Think I Hear You, won the article of the year award from the Washington Society of Professional Journalists.

On the Ponderings page of this website, I share insights from these varied experiences; insights that inform Bright Shining World. These are presented in writing and orally.

I now live on a dirt road in the woods of upstate New York, with my amazing and inspiring wife, Leah, our two boys, and an aging and affectionate dog.

I would love to hear from you! Drop an email through the contact page. And if you enjoyed the book, please add a review on Goodreads or Amazon! And please support our independent bookstores whenever possible.