Anja Woltman

Anja Woltman was born in 1947 in The Hague, Holland. Her early writing experience included contributing poetry and articles to her college newspaper, where she also served as editor. After moving to the U.S. in 1971 through a Foreign Teachers Program, she published an article in a Dutch weekly opinion magazine about American football—then a little-known element of U.S. culture in Europe. She took a break from writing while adapting to English but later honed her skills through professional writing.

Anja and her husband raised two sons and built their own home in Vermont. The raised animals, grew vegetables and cut their own firewood to heat their home. After their divorce in 1994, she relocated to Sonoma County, California, where she still lives. In addition to teaching, Anja held leadership roles in nonprofit organizations, serving as both Program Director and Executive Director. She retired in 2008.

In 2018 she visited her expat son, Connor, in Vietnam. One year later she decided to spend a year in the fishing village where Connor lived. She prepared for the trip and picked a start date of March 2020. She just arrived before the borders closed, due to the pandemic, and consequently had a most unusual year living among a small group of expats and the local people, while the tourists had left and the borders remained closed.

She is currently retired and has one grandchild. This is her first book.