Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawn Reno Langley.
Hi Dawn, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Though I’ve been writing and publishing since I was nine years old, during the past couple of years, I’ve been focusing on the second book in my trilogy, The Art of Rivers, as well as a memoir about the last two years entitles Love, Leashes & Letting Go (which will be published September 15th). The Mystic: Book One of The Art of Rivers came out in 2025, and I’ve followed it with The Sunflower: Book Two of The Art of Rivers, published in August. All three stories are set on rivers and follow the journey of an interracial couple embroiled in the civil rights eras of the 1950s and 60s.
Love, Leashes & Letting Go is a mashup memoir with tones of Eat Pray Love, Educated and The Salt Path. Based on my experience, it begins with the day I was divorced at 9AM, sold my car at 1PM and flew to Portugal at 6PM. I spent two years recovering from grief and traveling throughout Europe caring for animals in other people’s homes. Adventures, a lot of introspection, and letting go of physical and emotional “stuff” create the backbone of the story.
Throughout my writing years, I’ve written everything except screenplays, but my love for writing is strongly rooted in my novels, most of which have social justice aspects braided through the plots. Growing up during the 60s in Boston, I became politically influenced by the events of the era, and eventually, I found my voice and my writing community.
I received an MFA in Fiction from Vermont College, then went on to complete my PhD program in Interdisciplinary Studies at The Union Institute and University. I’ve taught every level of school from grammar school to PhD students, and while I love being an academic, my heart is always most complete when I’m writing.
Currently, I am a nomad, traveling while caring for animals, though I’m looking forward to settling in Portugal within the next year.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Life is never a smooth road, and if anyone ever tells you it is, they’re lying.
Writing is a career that challenges the best writers. Getting used to rejection is par for the course and though I’ve been writing for a very long time, rejection still hurts.
But that’s not the only part of my life that’s been a struggle. I’ve faced loss at a very young age, have had physical and emotional challenges, and made lots of mistakes along the way. Love comes and goes, friends and family pass, and sometimes it’s easier to give up than to trudge along.
Today, I spend a lot of time along with animals that are always the best companions, and though I continue to publish regularly, I’m thankful for the solid group of readers I’ve gathered along the way–and not as worried about rejection as I used to be.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In my TEDx talk, I discuss “How Creatives Can Save the World,” and I truly believe that writers, musicians, filmmakers, and artists are effective in bringing news about our world to people and delivering information in a way that’s entertaining–and often changes people’s perspectives.
My work has always brought me into worlds about which I knew little. My first books on antiques and art focused on African-American art and collectibles, a subject that I was curious about but couldn’t find information to teach myself. When Crown Publishers approached me to expand on the articles I’d created for local antiques publications, I dug eagerly into the research and taught myself as much as I could about the subject. That habit continued throughout the years I wrote about art and antiques, and I established a solid career as an internationally known expert in the antiques/art field.
That experience built the foundation for my first novel, All That Glitters, the story of a woman involved in the antiques business, and one of the things that made me proudest of that book was that readers recognized that I knew what I was talking about. I continue to research every story I write, and my readers appreciate that fact (at least that’s what reviewers say!).
I’m most proud of the fellowships I’ve received over the years, especially the Fulbright fellowships that have taken me to Pakistan. I’ll be going there again in the spring, and this trip will be interesting because some of the students I met when I first visited in 2011 are now professors themselves and have families.
Those students I’ve touched through the years — not only in Pakistan, but throughout classes I’ve taught at the grammar school, junior high, high school, community college, college, and university levels — are shining stars in my career, and there’s nothing I love better than to hear about the effect I had on their lives. It’s humbling.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My mother is first and foremost. She encouraged me to write from a very early age, and she was always my greatest cheerleader. She kept an extensive collection of all of my articles and books, which I found after she passed away. To know that she was so proud of me made it all worthwhile.
Mentors include my friend and former professor, Tony Whedon, an incredible jazz trombonist, poet, and essayist who taught me how to take my thoughts and put them on the page. His inspirational conversations spurred me on at moments when I thought about hanging up my writing career, and I can’t thank him enough for the positive criticism he always offered.
Writing friends and colleagues like Susan Sanders, Sandi Kitt, Marcia King-Gamble, Ron Jackson, Jaki Shelton Green, Melissa Seligman, Melissa Rooney, Teresa Blackmon, Carolyn Burns Bass, David Verzello, Leslie Zemeckis, Kat Privett, Katrina Denza, Elizabeth Kracht, Shelly Devlin — and MANY others — have always been the wind beneath my wings.
And reviewers like Char Jones, Phyllis Pisanelli, Annie Mondesir, Linda Levack Zagon, Thomas Bellezza, Serena Soapes, Carol Reed, and MANY others offer me words of wisdom and encouragement that keep me going.
There are so many others, but let’s just add a few people who don’t fit categories other than friends and loved ones: my sister Candy Cioffi, my nephew Andrew Cioffi, my stepson/stepdaughter Billy and Charlene Reno, steps Christine, Bobby and Michael Reno, my high school friends–Charlene Walker, Emilie Coppola Ciampa, Joanne Albano, Rosemary Miller, (and MANY others), –and too many more to count.
It takes more than a village to support a writer — it takes an international community!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dawnrenolangley.net
- Instagram: @proflangley
- Facebook: @dawnrenolangley
- LinkedIn: @Dawn Reno Langley, Ph.D.
- Youtube: @dawnrenolangley
