Bio

watercolors, underwater

A woman with dark hair in a messy bun sits outside with a tabby cat draped over her shoulder, looking to the right. They are near a white house with peeling paint and a window, with trees reflected in the window glass.
A graphic showing the number 10,950, which represents hours spent underwater, with text below mentioning childhood submerged in water and adulthood inquiry about separation.

With a B.A. in Sociology from Whitman College, and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Colorado, Michelle Zinanti’s life-long interest is a search for coming together. She has co-founded a village farmer’s market, a community art center, musical bands, and neighborhood writing groups. She has co-created positive environments for school classrooms, eldercare, court mediation, community housing, and family song circles. Michelle carries this rich experience into the next chapter – book crafting.

UnderwaterBooks is a culmination of thirty years of facilitating cohesion. Michelle’s lighthearted interactive books energize our capacity for curiosity, joy, reflection, and finding each other. Her inventive series is a gentle and convincing effort at dismantling separation – it is a childhood call to come out and play.

“Michelle is young and old. She has a youthful spirit, a sense of fun and adventure, and at the same time she has an old soul which seriously dwells on how something can be done most honestly.”

-Keilah, age 27

A black and blue cube-shaped logo with four squares forming a diamond pattern.

Want to invite the author to an UnderwaterBook group or literary event?