Wade Livingston

Born in Oklahoma and raised in Western North Carolina by parents from South Carolina’s Midlands, Wade now lives in Savannah, Georgia, and wonders where in the heck he’ll set his first novel. Maybe he’ll just create his own place — which is what he’s done as a writer.

From journalism to executive communications to academia, he’s written a smorgasbord of stuff — narrative nonfiction, investigative series, essays and op-eds, scripts, speeches, annual reports, and a dissertation. He could keep going. He will. He writes song lyrics, too, which he’s still waiting to share widely. (These and that novel will reveal themselves at the appropriate time, but it’s rumored that one of the ditties is about chicken-on-a-stick at a Mississippi gas station.) In short, he sees story everywhere, in everything, and he lives to help people harness their narratives and realize their gifts.

Wade holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Clemson, an M.A. in journalism from Mizzou, and M.Ed. and B.S. degrees from Western Carolina University. As a past professor, journalist, comms guru, and administrator, he brings more than a decade of experience to his craft. Among his favorite moments: his time as a beat reporter covering college football. (He knows where to eat — and where not to stay — in towns from Toledo to Muskogee. Sports editors are quick to encourage their scribes to find even-cheaper lodging.) He thinks John Prine is the Yoda Of Our Times and, over the years, Wade has remarked, “If I can ever write a line like Prine, I’ll hang up my keyboard.” No danger there — especially since Wade’s letter bed is cordless these days. His wife might chuckle at that last line; her name’s Melissa, and she’s as sweet as she is patient.