Hello and welcome!
Short & Sweet Bio: I write books that delve into real-life issues without shying away from controversial topics and reflect the diversity of the world in which I live. I graduated from San Jose State University and live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband and four kids. My debut novel, Blaming the Wind, was published by Red Adept Publishing (publisher of NY Times bestsellers Thought I Knew You by Kate Moretti and When You Make It Home by Claire Ashby), in 2016, followed by Everything She Lost in 2018 and my third novel, Last Place Seen, in 2022. My first nonfiction book, In the Shadow of Freedom: The Enduring Call for Racial Justice was published by Orbis Books in 2024.
Super-sized Bio: Ever since my story about a genie granting a girl’s three wishes won the book fair in the fourth grade, I’ve had a passion for reading and writing. Raised and educated Catholic, my faith has always been a huge part of who am I. Though I started as a Theology major at a Catholic University, life happened, and I eventually earned a Bachelor of Art in Comparative Religious Studies and a minor in Middle East Studies from San Jose State University. Learning about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and numerous other religious traditions from all around the world, and within the United States, broadened my understanding and increased my empathy and tolerance. After writing In the Shadow the Enduring Call for Racial Justice, and specifically the last chapter on Restorative Justice, I decided to enroll in Santa Clara University’s Graduate Certificate Program in Restorative Justice and Chaplaincy in Fall 2023. I completed the certificate program in 2025.
My writing career actually started in 2007 as a freelance for an online magazine focusing on the San Francisco Bay Area African American community.
I pivoted to fiction and in 2015 signed a contract with Red Adept Publishing. My debut novel, Blaming the Wind, was published in 2016, followed by Everything She Lost in in 2018. Both novels explore friendship, marriage, parenting, mental illness, and redemption. My third novel Last Place Seen is a thriller released in 2022, which won the Indie’s Today Best Thriller Award. It follows a young couple trying to put their lives back together after the husband’s incarceration. Things become more complicated when a ten-year-old girl is kidnapped, and the husband becomes a suspect. My first nonfiction book, In the Shadow of Freedom: The Enduring Call for Racial Justice, is published by the Catholic publisher, Orbis Books, in 2024. It won the First Place Award for Religion in the Public Square in the Catholic Media Association Awards.
In addition to blogging on this website under the Good News Blog Tab, I have written for publications such as Black Catholic Messenger, America Magazine, The Revealer, Grotto Network, Critical Theology Journal, Catholic Worker, National Catholic Reporter, and US Catholic. At the 2025 Catholic Media Association Awards, National Catholic Reporter won First Place for Racial Justice Reporting for contributions from Alessandra, Aleja Hertzler-McCain and Brian Fraga.
When I’m not writing or working, I’m enjoying time spent with my husband, three wonderful sons, and a great daughter.
Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned. The best is on its way.
Alessandra
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Alessandra Harris 