Patti Waldmeir

Patti Waldmeir is an award-winning author and journalist. She has spent nearly forty years working as a reporter and columnist for the Financial Times, reporting from Ghana; Zambia; Nigeria; London; South Africa; Washington, DC; Shanghai; and now Chicago. Raised in Detroit, Waldmeir graduated with honors from the University of Michigan and went on to win a Marshall Scholarship to earn her master's degree at Cambridge University. Waldmeir's previous award-winning book, Anatomy of a Miracle: The...See more

Patti Waldmeir is an award-winning author and journalist. She has spent nearly forty years working as a reporter and columnist for the Financial Times, reporting from Ghana; Zambia; Nigeria; London; South Africa; Washington, DC; Shanghai; and now Chicago. Raised in Detroit, Waldmeir graduated with honors from the University of Michigan and went on to win a Marshall Scholarship to earn her master's degree at Cambridge University. Waldmeir's previous award-winning book, Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of a New South Africa , chronicled the peace deal between white and black in South Africa and the rise of Nelson Mandela. Her latest focuses on a more personal issue. When Waldmeir adopted two Chinese daughters, she decided to move the family to Shanghai to help them keep close to their Chinese heritage. Chinese Lessons is a story of identity, race and culture, told through the prism of family. See less