Biography

Official:

Lila Shaara was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the daughter of a Italian-American writer and a German-American social worker. She attended a number of colleges before finishing her BA in religious studies at Duke University, then received a masters degree in archeology and a PhD in cultural anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Shaara has had many jobs, including (in no particular order) disc jockey (jazz, classical and ‘beautiful music’), talk show producer, secretary, bartender, waitress, ‘crew member’ at a fast food chain, university professor, high school teacher and in her lowest moment, a job handing out free cigarettes to homeless people on street corners. She has also sung and played guitar in various alternative rock bands, including the first all-female punk band in North Carolina. She currently resides in western Pennsylvania with her husband, two children, and numerous cats.

Unofficial:

Lila Shaara has been steeping in academia for a very long time now. She has attended lots of universities, getting a number of degrees whose value is debatable, and she has taught at lots of universities. She has two sons who are, like most sons, the best boys in the universe, and a husband who is a marvelous artist, musician and writer, and is a wonderfully supportive helpmeet. (Some shameless plugs for his work will be scattered throughout this website.) She also has lots of friends who are good to her, and without whom she would probably be dead, or at least in a semi-vegetative state. She and her family live in the greater Pittsburgh area in a carpenter ant-infested old house with a big yard and lots of trees, the primary source of the carpenter ants. The family would have more cats as well as dogs, if the humans weren’t all a little bit lazy. Dogs are a lot of work.
Oh, and Lila is the daughter and sister of famous writers, but they were and are both male and write very manly things. She tends not to dwell on this in her promotional materials, because of the tendency of some readers to say things like, “Who does she think she is, jumping on the bandwagon like this, trying to cash in on the reputations of worthier relatives?” Here is what Lila has to say about that:

Oh, lighten up. So I write, too. Maybe it’s genes or something, I don’t know. But don’t worry, I have no intention of ever writing a woman’s take on some big war. So you can relax.

Lila’s books might be considered womanly, since they are written by a woman, but they aren’t only about women, if you know what I mean. You could read one and still be manly, if that is a concern for you.

Michael Shaara: A tribute page