ABOUT ANNE FORD
Writer or nun: Those were the most memorable results of my high-school career aptitude test. I have yet to hear the call of the convent—black’s just not my color—but the writing bit was right-on. In the near-decade I’ve been doing this, my work has appeared in Parenting, the Chicago Tribune, Natural Solutions, Creative Living, Crain’s Chicago Business, and the Chicago Reader, among many other venues.
I started out in the trade magazine world as senior editor of CAP Today, the leading publication for pathologists and laboratory professionals. Ask me about hypervirulent hospital-acquired infections sometime . . . just not during dinner.
In the spirit of “and now for something completely different!,” I went on to join the staff of Rand McNally, roaming the country to gather editorial content for the company’s iconic road atlas line. Some of my favorite on-the-road adventures: visiting “energy vortexes” in Arizona; making a prudent getaway from a testy buffalo; and staying in a hotel haunted by Theodore Roosevelt. (I slept with the lights on. Hey, the man carried a big stick.)
These days, I’m a full-time freelancer who specializes in health care, travel, religion, profiles, and educational content. One of my profiles just took runner-up for an AltWeekly Award, and I’ve spoken about writing at Chicago’s Columbia College and as a guest on the well-known WGN radio program Extension 720.
Oh, and if you’re planning a trip to the Windy City, you’ll want to check out the über-comprehensive Insight Guides Chicago, to which I contributed several chapters.
I received my B.A. from Wittenberg University, from which I graduated summa cum laude, and my M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. I’m a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a decent square dancer, a fan of hard-to-find sodas, and an embarrassingly enthusiastic aunt.