Libby McNamee

I started my writing journey about 20 years ago, beginning with fiction, feature articles, and personal essays that I published in local magazines. I was kind of just dabbling in a lot of different things. I wrote some picture books when my son was little, then moved on to middle grade novels and some adult novels. Eventually I came across a historical fiction story and wrote basically a young adult novel about that, and that's really where I came into my own and figured out, this is what I really want to do, and I've stayed in that genre since. I write what I call sweet young adult historical fiction, kind of upper middle grade or sweet YA for 5th through 7th graders, though half my readers are adults. My first book, Susanna's Midnight Ride, was published in 2018, followed by my book about Dolly Madison and the War of 1812 in 2021, and most recently The Union Spymistress in July 2025. It's been kind of like a Bob Ross happy accident - I started off writing these books because the topics interested me, and then I realized these museums would like them. My books are now carried at Mount Vernon, Yorktown, American History Museum, Boston Tea Party Ships, St. John's Church in Richmond, and several Presidential Libraries. I do a lot of school visits and work with homeschoolers, but I also go to historical societies and give historical talks, speak to DARs, and give talks at retirement homes. I do book signings at different museums all the time, and I even go to reenactor events now with my own colonial outfits and War of 1812 outfits - I never foresaw myself doing this, but it's a blast. I'm kind of an introverted extrovert, so I can be in my cave writing all week, and then on the weekends I'm out speaking, and it's a really nice balance. Before writing, I was a Major in the Army JAG Corps for about 6 years, living in Germany, Bosnia, Korea, and Washington State. I have a JD from 1993 and worked in several law firms and corporations before having my son and starting to write, because that's what I really wanted to do.