Bio

Simone Martel grew up in Berkeley, California, where she spent much of her childhood playing imaginary games in her parents’ big, messy garden. Her fondness for flowers, trees, bugs and mud flourished early on, along with a passion for storytelling.  In high school, Simone and her husband-to-be co-edited the school newspaper.  Simone developed a taste for writing edgy human interest stories, particularly when her research took her far off campus.  After studying English at U.C. Berkeley, Simone operated an organic tomato farm near Stockton, California.  Her experience in that desolate corner of the Central Valley has become the basis of her new novel, Zarzamora.

Simone is the author of a memoir, The Expectant Gardener, inspired by the creation of her own garden in Berkeley, and dedicated to her son, who was born around that time.  Her garden-themed story collection, Exile’s Garden, was published in 2015.  Her essays and stories have appeared in many literary journals, newspapers and magazines.