Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals has received high praise as a "must read" for anyone involved with companion animals. Drop Dead on Recall, the first novel in Sheila’s new mystery series, features animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her cat Leo, and her Australian Shepherd Jay (who is remarkably like the author’s Aussie, Jay!). Sheila's short story "Tracks," which features Janet & Jay at the Indianapolis 500 museum, appeared in Racing Can Be Murder and was a finalist in the 2008 DWAA writing competition. Click Pets (Nonfiction) to see Sheila's nonfiction books. You can follow Sheila's "Animals in Focus" mystery blog at Inkspot.

Six of Sheila’s non-fiction books have been named best in their categories in the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) and the Cat Writers Association (CWA) annual competitions, and two of her other books and a short story have been finalists.

Sheila also paints, primarily in watercolor and colored pencil and occasionally in oil. She finds that painting and writing inspire one another.

Animals have always been part of Sheila's life. In her teens and twenties she showed horses, and for the past two decades she has been active showing her Australian Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers in various canine sports. She has also bred top-winning Aussies, and founded rescue groups for Aussies and Labs.

Sheila holds a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University. For some 15 years, she taught writing, folklore, and literature in the U.S. and the Middle East.

Sheila and her husband and dogs have enjoyed getting to know different parts of the U.S. over the past few years. They currently live in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Award-winning author Sheila Webster Boneham writes fiction and nonfiction, much of it focused on animals, nature, and travel. Although best know for her writing about dogs and cats for the past fifteen years, Sheila also writes fiction, narrative nonfiction, and  poetry. She is currently working on a series of essays about traveling the U.S. by train, and on a combination memoir and wide-ranging meditation on the human-canine connection. Sheila teaches writing workshops and classes, and is interested in speaking to groups about writing, creativity, and related topics.

Sheila Webster Boneham