Alison Buckholtz is a navy wife and freelance writer based in suburban Washington, DC. She wrote “The Good Day” in Military Life: Stories and poems for children for her children, Ethan and Esther, while her husband, a pilot, was deployed. She wrote the essay “My Oxygen Mask” in Stories Around the Table, based on her experience during a particularly difficult deployment when she learned that being a good mom sometimes means putting yourself first.
Alison’s other published works include her memoir Standing By: The making of an American military family in a time of war (Tarcher/Penguin) and a monthly column “Deployment Diary” for Slate.com. Her articles and essays have been published in The New York Times, Washington Post and Washington Post Magazine, Real Simple, Parents magazine, Forbes Global, and many other publications. Alison speaks about military family issues at bases, organizations and conferences across the country, and has been featured on NPR and other national media.
Alison received an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in English Literature (Honors, Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She also completed a year of undergraduate study at Trinity College Dublin.