About
I write creative nonfiction, mostly. Curious about my Amish neighbors, I made friends in three Iowa Amish communities and wrote essays about my experiences for The Iowa Source, Plain magazine and The Plain Reader Anthology—which were later included in my creative nonfiction book, Visits with the Amish: Impressions of the Plain Life (University of Iowa Press, 2010).
My latest book, The Ramayana: A New Retelling of Valmiki’s Ancient Epic (TarcherPerigee, a division of Penguin Random House, 2016) is co-authored with Kumuda Reddy, M.D. I co-authored three books on Ayurveda healthcare with her, including Super Healthy Kids: A Parent's Guide to Maharishi Ayurveda (Maharishi International University Press, 2010). I also like to write for kids—including poetry for Cricket and essays for Cobblestone magazine—and was the youth editor for Plain Magazine for three years.
I'm currently finishing a YA historical novel set in the Amish community of Kalona, Iowa, in 1944. An adjunct associate professor at Maharishi International University for 15 years, I taught creative nonfiction in the M.A. in Professional Writing program. I live in the peaceful town of Fairfield, Iowa, with my author/professor husband, Tom, and my passions are gardening, meditating (I'm a certified teacher of Transcendental Meditation), taking art lessons and playing Pickleball with friends.
Featured Work
The Ramayana: A New Retelling of Valmiki's Ancient Epic
By Linda Egenes and Kumuda Reddy
TarcherPerigee (a division of Penguin Random House)
The Ramayana is the most widely read epic in history, and this luminous retelling captures the transcendental nature of the ancient Vedic civilization of India while keeping modern readers turning the pages. The lyrical prose is easy to read, punctuated by Linda Egenes’s descriptive poetry that evokes the original poetic form of its creator, the sage Valmiki. Each chapter ends with a direct translation of the Sanskrit text, keeping the reader grounded in the sublime message of a story that is sacred to millions.
“This book is so lyrically rendered that you won’t even notice the wisdom seeping in.”
—Huffington Post
"This new version is so simply and beautifully written—it will stir the soul!" —David Lynch
Other Works
Awards and Recognition
- SCBWI Mentorship Award