Wanda Penalver Bevan was born in Ithaca, New York. A graduate of Northwestern University, she’s worked as an actress, paralegal, and hospitality manager. In addition to two screenplays, she’s the songwriter of “Little Girl” (2012), a tribute to the youngest victim of the 2011 Tucson shooting, and her poem “America’s Child” is on display at the Oklahoma City National Memorial honoring those who lost their lives in the Murrah Federal Building bombing in 1995. In 2016, she published her first novel, Their Souls Met in Wishton. Her second book, A Slow Dance in Memoriam and Other Poems (2022), is her first poetry collection. Wanda moved to Phoenix in 2017, following three decades in southern California, whose ocean shores will always have a piece of her heart. She loves to travel, and doesn’t fully trust anyone who doesn’t like animals. She has three daughters and hopes to become just like them when she grows up.