Heidi Nobles

My work as a writer, teacher, and book editor has always revolved around one big question: how do we understand and make meaning? As a very enthusiastic undergrad, I changed my major every semester before graduating with a degree in Liberal Studies—I just couldn’t stop exploring. I eventually found my home in writing studies, where books became portals to everything else. I also came to believe that literacy really does change us, and that working with reading and writing is one of the best ways to help shape the world for the better. I believe writing is a way of thinking and revision is a form of discovery. I’ve taught courses on everything from civic discourse to the brain science of literacy to book editing and publishing, and I’ve worked with writers from middle schoolers to professionals. Outside class, you’ll find me on long walks, elaborate road trips, or playing whatever my kids have dreamed up. At UVA, I work to open up the world for students as my first professors did for me, by helping them to study widely, ask questions big and small, and write their worlds into being.