PJ Pierce, a freelance writer in Austin, Texas, is the fourth child in a family of ten
siblings born and raised in Amarillo. Her present book, “Let me tell you what I’ve learned”: Texas Wisewomen Speak, released by
the University of Texas Press in 2002, has recently gone into a fourth printing. The audio version of Texas Wisewomen, a 9-CD
set in which several of the wisewomen have recorded their own words, was released in November 2003.
Pierce's career in journalism began at age ten when she edited her neighborhood newspaper in Amarillo for four years.
She earned bachelors degrees in German and Journalism and a masters degree in German. Her professional career includes
public relations, newspaper writing, and teaching high school journalism and college German. She serves on the advisory
board of Story Circle Network, a national nonprofit organization that encourages women to write their own life stories.
Pierce and her husband, Jack, a retina surgeon in Austin, have three grown children: Heather, Summer and Ian – and
three grandchildren, Thomas, Brooke and Maren.
Her favorite writing retreat is the Sunday House they own in the middle of a 24-acre stand of loblolly pines east of Austin.
The author is a regular long-distance bicyclist, having crossed several states on two wheels with friends. She also likes to scull
on Town Lake in Austin.
Summer Pierce
, chief photographer for
