Biography
Paige R. Penland was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in nearby Oak Ridge, the “Atomic City," where her earliest influences included traditional Appalachian culture and radioactive weapons of mass destruction. Paige later attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where her hopes of eventually earning a Biology PhD were quickly dashed when organic chemistry coincided with the peak of her recklessly irresponsible youth.
Happily, her newly discovered passion for reckless irresponsibility inspired her to not only change majors (to 20th-century history), but also backpack across the continent, organize political protests, learn some Spanish and even write for her friend’s ’zine, which didn’t pay much, but did provide the experience and clips required for her first “real” job, at Lowrider magazine.
There, Paige learned how to identify by sight every Chevrolet to ever roll off the assembly line, not to mention customize any one of them for maximum impact (hint: it’s hard to go wrong with fender skirts). She also covered Chicano political organizations and Latino cultural events, and was given the opportunity to write her first book, Lowrider: History, Pride, Culture.
She then moved on to Lonely Planet, one of the world’s largest travel publishers. She started out as an editor and online content writer, but couldn’t resist when asked to update the guidebook to Florida, where she saw her first space shuttle launch. Subsequent assignments took her to the crackling glaciers of Alaska, down the windswept coast of California Highway 1 and back to the sage-scented sandstone dreamscape of that reckless youth, Santa Fe & Taos.
Her next travel assignment covered Costa Rica, which she liked so much that she stayed for the next three years. She also enjoyed visiting the neighbors, and even wrote her own darned travel guide, A Week or Two in Southwest Nicaragua, for fellow tourists interested in visiting the beaches and volcanoes less traveled. Lonely Planet subsequently hired her to write their Nicaragua & El Salvador book, which finally gave her the resources she needed to cover beautiful but isolated spots like Bonanza, Nicaragua, where no other travel writer (to her knowledge) had ever gone before.
Today, Paige is living in Atlanta, Georgia, with two major projects on the horizon. The first, due out March 2007, is an online travel guide to Colombia, which she plans to pitch as “South America’s Sort of Scary Answer to Amsterdam," although it really is getting safer every day. She is also co-authoring a travel guide to Spanish colonial sites in United States - including her birthplace, Knoxville, Tennessee, “discovered” by Hernando de Soto in 1540.
Paige also writes science fiction short stories, one of which she may someday finish and submit for publication. And, of course, she is always interested in finding more freelance work, particularly pertaining to science, history, lowriding and travel. Feel free to send your queries and comments to paige@paigerpenland.com.
