JUDITH AVILA'S WRITER WEBSITE

After growing up in New York and New Hampshire, I have made New Mexico, with its wonderful diversity of cultures, my home. I worked as a social worker, an artist, an air traffic controller, and a computer consultant before finally discovering writing.

As a storyteller, I hope my characters become fast friends with my readers.

My non-fiction project, Code Talker, is the memoir of Chester Nez - the only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII. Published by Penguin/Berkley  in 2011, it is still a bestseller.

My four novels (as yet unpublished) introduce characters who live - like all of us - in an imperfect world. But they focus on what could be. This requires grit, determination, and the courage to step out of their own paradigms.

Please click below for a look at the first chapters of all five of my books (published and unpublished).

In this NYT, WSJ and USA Today bestseller, Chester Nez has shared his firsthand account as a WWII Navajo code talker. Join these brave young men in battle, and take cover in the foxhole with Chester as he recounts what critics have called his "remarkably moving" story.

In REFUGE, seventeen-year-old Zee Winter flees New Hampshire for the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. In a dying USA, Navajo land is one of the few places where food can be grown. Zee joins forces with Native farmer and activist Cleveland Begay. Together they resist vigilantes attempting to take over the reservation.

In TAPROOT, Freedom Davila , newly graduated from Columbia University, moves to New York City to escape the stranglehold of her traditional family. But she is dragged back by a fearsome foe, her 98-pound mama.

In BALLAD IN THREE VOICES  tragedy ricochets through a family with surprising results. After the sudden death of their mother, adult siblings Joanna, Jason and Olivia Stoner are suddenly freed from accustomed roles. They launch themselves in directions that are sometimes creative, sometimes illegal, but always surprising.

In SECRETS OF THE DREAMCATCHERS  an orphaned teenager bucks the establishment with the help of four friends. On the planet Vigon – where earthlings have resettled after destroying their own planet – the five live in a hidden tree house and forge a secret society of Dreamcatchers aimed at combating their corrupt government.