Writing as a Second Act

Sheila Grinell came to Phoenix in 1993 to build the Arizona Science Center, where she served as President and CEO. A dozen years later, she took on a different challenge: to begin a second career as a novelist.  Sheila will share a method for designing a later-in-life vocation and the aspects of business experience that apply to an artistic endeavor.

Toward the end of her forty-year career as a creator of science museums, Sheila Grinell turned to fiction. Her debut novel, APPETITE, was published in 2016 and a second novel, THE CONTRACT, appeared in 2019. A third novel will be released in September 2025. Born in a taxi in Manhattan, she studied at The Bronx High School of Science, Harvard University, and the University of California at Berkeley. A widow, she lives in Scottsdale.