Sandra L. Manigault

Biography of Sandra L. Manigault

Sandra L. Manigault is an academic turned creative. Formerly a high school math teacher and college professor, she fell in love with books by African American women and other 20th and 21st century writers, but never expected to become an author herself. Her creative turn occurred serendipitously after reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, whom she regards as her “silent” mentor.

Her first published book, The Book for Math Empowerment (1997), grew out of a unique teacher’s conference in Vail, Colorado. Her second book, Fragments of a Woman’s Life – a Memoir (2000), started as the result of a project in a creative writing class. Its first chapter, “The Players,” uniquely identified all the people Sandra eventually would be writing about and the impact they had upon her life.

Her fiction, The Vanessa Trilogy, came about incrementally. Book 1 was born as a result of an unusual classroom assignment—namely, to write a scene in which sex was or was not the inevitable outcome. With a mischievous mindset, Sandra not only wrote the events pivotal to the love scene, she set the stage for what would later become the first two chapters of Vanessa – a Love Story (2016). In Vanessa – a Love Story, Sandra explores issues and tensions that arise amid the passions of an interracial/intercultural relationship.

Readers, enthralled with her first novel, demanded more, many saying that they could not put it down. She gave them more. Vanessa – The Next Chapter was published two years later (2018). Rounding out the trilogy was Flora’s Saga (2021). Sandra never anticipated writing a trilogy. But for a writer, blessed to write across the genres, it was an inevitable outcome.

Sandra’s background as a musician also factors into her work. Cognizant of the fact that studying music changes the brain of a student, she interwove that philosophy into The Book for Math Empowerment (1997) and its younger version—The Children’s Book for Math Empowerment (2002). Her lifelong fascination with art (having attended The High School of Music and Art in NYC, and being married to an artist) also revealed itself in her fiction. The love interest in Vanessa – a Love Story happens to be a prolific and wealthy artist.

One might say “Once a teacher – always a teacher.” This too is true about Sandra. She believes every woman is a writer and has a book in her. To empower those who are shy about putting their thoughts and lives “on full display,” Sandra conducts her “Legacies” workshops. These workshops facilitate both memoir writing and healthful eating for individuals, women’s book clubs, women’s ministries, and other organizations. In this workshop Sandra shares her unique writing style and the secrets to her weight loss journey.

Sandra has been interviewed by some phenomenal hosts. Appearing on YouTube, The American Legacy Network, and other platforms are her three interviews on The Writer’s Haven Show with host V. Helena. She also has been hosted by Ingrid Paris Hicklin on her cable TV show, Ingrid’s World, and by David Whettstone of WPFW Pacifica radio in Washington D.C.

Sandra is a wife, mother, and grandmother who currently lives in North Carolina. She is also working on another novel.