-ABOUT-

Shannon Evans O’Brien

Well hey, I’m Shannon. I’m an author, editor, and creative writer whose work hovers over themes of identity, meaning-making, and change. As a recently divorced mother in my forties, I’m increasingly interested in the tension between belonging to community (whatever form that might take) and belonging to one’s self; the tension, I suppose, of being human.

In my day job as the culture and spirituality editor for the National Catholic Reporter, I have the good fortune of helping other writers hone and amplify their own voices. Occasionally I write there, too: like the time I got to interview the actor Andrew Garfield for a profile on his oft-noted spiritual inclinations. As a former middle schooler who wrote would-be articles on celebrities in a notebook kept under my bed, that was pretty cool. Andrew Garfield is no Hanson brother, but still.

My favorite ways to spend my time include laughing with my kids, napping with my pets, browsing a thrift store, getting lost in a novel, babying my plants, and sitting outside doing nothing on a sunny day. I’m always late and I’d like to say it’s in the name of decolonization but the truth is more just time blindness from my ADHD.