with Melanie Rigney
Melanie's Bios
Bio: The short version
Melanie Rigney loves almost nothing better than talking and writing about how women can be inspired and sustained by female saints and women in the Bible. Her next book, forthcoming from Bayard Inc. in January 2024, focuses on eight unnamed women who encountered Jesus in the Gospels, and what we can learn from them. Melanie’s booklet about 15 days of praying with St. Bernadette of Lourdes will be published for Lent 2024.
Melanie’s other books include Radical Saints: 21 Women for the 21st Century; Woman of Worth: Prayers and Reflections for Women Inspired by the Book of Proverbs; and Menopause Moments: A Journal for Nourishing Your Mind, Body, and Spirit in Midlife. She is best known as a regular contributor to Living Faith and CatholicMom.com and for her page-a-day devotionals, Sisterhood of Saints and Brotherhood of Saints.
Melanie is a regular contributor to Living Faith, CatholicMom, and Women in the New Evangelization (WINE), and lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Bio: the loooong version
What a long, convoluted trip it’s been.
In 2005, Melanie came back to the Catholic Church (some say with a passion; others compare her return to hurricane-force winds) after thirty-three years away from faith. While Melanie has been editing books, magazines, web sites, and other content for longer than she cares to remember, with her return to the Church she became primarily a writer and speaker about women’s spirituality and what the saints have to tell us. She is the author of:
- When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics (co-author; Twenty-Third Publications; order direct from Melanie)
- Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration (Franciscan Media)
- Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration in Our Sisters in Faith (Franciscan Media)
- Woman of Worth: Prayers and Reflections for Women Inspired by the Book of Proverbs (Twenty-Third Publications)
- Radical Saints: 21 Women for the 21st Century (Franciscan Media)
- Brotherhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration (Franciscan Media)
- Menopause Moments: A Journal for Nourishing Your Mind, Body and Spirit in Midlife (Twenty-Third Publications).
She also is a regular contributor to Living Faith, CatholicMom, Your Daily Tripod, and Women in the New Evangelization (WINE).
Melanie is also a founder and the current owner of Future with Hope Women, a not-for-profit endeavor that offers events for Catholic women over 40. She has spoken at dozens of women’s conferences and retreats. As if all that isn’t enough to keep her busy, she still keeps her hand in editing. Her publishing consultancy, Editor for You, has helped hundreds of authors, publishers, and agents since 2003.
Melanie is also a rabid fan of Washington Capitals hockey, Keith Richards, and Waylon Jennings. Her go-to source for cooking is Martha Stewart, and she prides herself on being able to do cool things with seafood in particular. Oh, and if she had time, she’d like to get back to genealogy; she’s equally fascinated by her two dozen or so Revolutionary War ancestors, her Polish great-grandparents; and her great-great-grandfather who was born into slavery near Memphis, Tennessee.
Melanie grew up in South Dakota and lived in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio before landing in Arlington, Virginia, in 2004. She is a member of the National Council of Catholic Women and serves on the board of her diocesan CCW and on a committee for Cursillo in her diocese. Because she’s a joiner, Melanie is also a member of The Authors Guild, Catholic Writers Guild, Capital Christian Writers Fellowship, and Daughters of the American Revolution.
