O'Malley, Penelope Grenoble

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O'MALLEY, Penelope Grenoble

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—Agoura, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, University of Nebraska Press, Mail Stop 166, Reno, NV 89557.

CAREER: Journalist and editor. Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, former director of communications; research associate at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

AWARDS, HONORS: Recipient of three Los Angeles Press Club awards.

WRITINGS:

Takeoffs Are Optional, Landings Are Mandatory: Airline Pilots Talk about Deregulation, Safety, and the Future of Commercial Aviation, Iowa State University Press (Ames, IA), 1993.

Malibu Diary: Notes from an Urban Refugee, University of Nevada Press (Reno, NV), 2004.

Contributor to numerous magazines and newspapers, including Malibu Times, Orion, Northern Lights, and American Nature Writing.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist and author Penelope Grenoble O'Malley has covered stories involving the greater Los Angeles area since the late 1970s. As a writer for both newspapers and magazines, she specializes in subject matter involving conservation, urban planning, and land use.

Moving to the coastal community of Malibu, California, in 1986, O'Malley hoped to find a peaceful community in tune with nature—a change from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. Instead, through her experiences as a homeowner and as a reporter for the Malibu Times, O'Malley discovered the struggle Malibu residents faced involving natural disasters, local politics, land development, and the town's encroachment upon nature. Published in 2004, Malibu Diary: Notes from an Urban Refugee is O'Malley's story of Malibu's attempt to balance the rights of property owners and environmental protection. Part history and part memoir, the book tells Malibu's story while also making insights into other communities around the country that struggle with a similar situation.

Critics have praised O'Malley for her multifaceted approach in writing Malibu Diary. Acorn contributor Stephanie Bertholdo wrote that O'Malley shares her story with "a reporter's eye for objectivity, an environmentalist's heart and a pragmatist's intellect." Others have pointed out O'Malley's ability to write about both a specific situation and its implications on the bigger picture. "She initiates us into the frustrations of municipal politics while offering valuable insights on how to live within our chosen place," commented Maureen Delaney-Lehman, in a review for Library Journal.