ILONA KIMBERLY NAGY

A warm welcome to you.

There is nothing a writer appreciates more than readers. So, thank you for being here and for reading my work. I mean it.

I’ve got a thing for revisions. Maybe because in rewriting or even just reconsidering deeply entrenched stories, classics or famous myths, I get to tap into a delectable premise. That I –and you–don’t have to take anyone’s word as final. That we can appreciate or disagree or heckle and most of all, safely talk back! And in this talking back we might engage a secret, tiny (ok, ant-like, but still!) free-will, door-kicking, sunglass-wearing, hair-let-loose, inner-agency that wants to bust out of our skin.

We need nuanced stories that smack of real life and let us breathe.

Inspiration.

It started when I began reading biographies of Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman underneath my favorite pine-tree and my mom bought me “herstory” cards before I was even 10 years old. I never stopped wondering why I didn’t know more about more women like them?

After all, I was a girl in want of strong beautiful tender-hearted role models.

That’s why I write about ancient mythology and profile strong women.

My coverage can be broken down into the following categories:

Women, Relationships & Parenting

Arts & Culture, History and Music

Lifestyle, Health (and Pets!)

Science

A member of the American Society for Journalists and Authors (ASJA)  Nagy’s writing ranges from parenting (including her most recent personal essay on how to talk to kids about sexual assault and consent) to women in science.

She’s particularly obsessed with the untold stories and perspectives of women in history and mythology. In her creative nonfiction, Nagy retells mythological tales from Medusa to Persephone from a feminist 21st-century stance.

Nagy received her BA in history at Rider University where she was influenced by professors who stressed works of literature alongside dates and historical facts–as well as the importance of including the perspectives of women and minorities in the historical record. During a period in which she fell in love with writing and research, Nagy wrote an award-winning paper about the suppression of free speech during World War I, and which featured early 20th-century feminist and civil rights leader, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Nagy continued her graduate studies at  the University of Connecticut, Storrs, where she studied with Dr. Karen Kupperman, an expert in early contact between Native Americans and the first European settlers. Nagy wrote her Masters thesis, focusing on the work of Frances Caulkins, the first woman to be accepted into the Connecticut Historical Society as well as literary descriptions of Native Americans in Connecticut during the 19th century.

Nagy’s day job is currently devoted to serving higher education institutions for whom she crafts strategic website content, conducts interviews with incredibly smart GenZ students (who keep her honest), and tells impactful stories about remarkable faculty and trailblazing research. In the field of higher ed, Nagy has worked in virtually every aspect of marketing, publicity, and communications including work on press campaigns, web content, viewbooks, radio and TV ads, emails, and brochures as well as full-length academic manuscripts.