About/Contact

A former nurse, Melissa Cronin is an author and journalist based in Vermont. Recognized as a Notable Mention in The Best American Essays (2019), and a recipient of a Vermont Studio Center Merit Grant and a Vermont Arts Council Development Grant, her work has appeared in various mainstream newspapers, book series, magazines, and literary journals. She holds a BS in nursing from Boston University and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. In her spare time, she volunteers for United Way of Northwest Vermont, plays the Irish fiddle, practices yoga and meditation, and forages for mushrooms.

Melissa has completed a memoir about anger and forgiveness, based on the 2003 Santa Monica Farmers Market crash in which 86-year-old George Russell Weller confused the gas pedal for the brake and plowed through a crowd of shoppers. He struck and killed 10 pedestrians and injured another 63. Melissa was one of the survivors. A critical care nurse, athlete, and burgeoning Irish fiddler at the time of the crash, she sustained life-threatening injuries, confining her to a wheelchair for four months, followed by years of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. How do you forgive someone who upended your world in an instant, and yet refuses to meaningfully apologize? At the scene of the crash, Russell Weller was heard by witnesses to say, “If you saw me coming, why didn’t you get out of my way?”

A public speaker on the topics of TBIs and PTSD, Melissa is available for events on topics related to trauma, including:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder/anxiety
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Pedestrian Safety
• Forgiveness
• Physical/mental/emotional abuse
• Anorexia Nervosa
• Body image
• Identity