St. Simons Island Writers Retreat

Wanda Lloyd, a retired newspaper editor, podcaster and frequent lecturer on issues of diversity and culture, is the author of COMING FULL CIRCLE: From Jim Crow to Journalism, a self-reflective exploration of the author’s life growing up in the legally segregated Deep South and becoming a trailblazing editor at seven daily newspapers. Her journey was marked by lack of mentors at a time when there were few women or people of color in the industry. The foreword to COMING FULL CIRCLE was written by novelist Tina McElroy Ansa, who first met Wanda when they were assigned as freshman-year roommates at Spelman College.

COMING FULL CIRCLE was listed by bookauthority.org as one of the “25 Best Journalism Books to Read in 2020.” Kirkus Reviews calls the memoir “Inspiringreading for aspiring journalists and students of civil rights.” Despite publishing the memoir in early 2020, just before the nation shut down for COVID, Wanda hasparticipated in several book festivals, including Greensboro Bound book festival in North Carolina, the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, the SchombergCenter Literary Festival in New York, and the Authors Showcase for the National Association of Black Journalists. She has shared the story of writing this memoirvirtually and in person on university campuses, museums, faith groups and with book clubs, corporate leadership teams and via podcasts.

Wanda released two books in 2020. She is co-editor (with Ansa) of MEETING AT THE TABLE: African-American Women Write on Race, Culture and Community, ananthology of essays from diverse perspectives. Lloyd and Ansa also co-hosted three seasons of the podcast, “2 Old Chicks Who Know a Lot of Sh*t!^TM.” Theepisodes can be found on YouTube and all popular podcast platforms. Wanda is also a TEDx speaker in Savannah. A self-described “word nerd,” in 2022 shepresented and performed on the topic “Words Matter.”

For the past six years she has been a member of The Focused Writers, an online group of women who learn new ways of writing and publishing. In 2022, thisgroup published On Womanhood: Connecting and Thriving in Every Season, an anthology of essays, for which Wanda was a writer and she edited the book. This exercise was a learning experience — from conception to writing, editing, publishing and marketing.

Wanda has been an editor at seven daily newspapers, including The Washington Post and USA Today. She retired in 2013 from her last newsroom as executive editor of  the Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama. That’s when she returned to her hometown to accept the position as chair and associate professor in theDepartment of Journalism and Mass Communications at Savannah State University. She is also the founding executive director of the Freedom Forum DiversityInstitute at Vanderbilt University, where she launched a school to teach journalism to second-career people of color. She has been a four-time juror for thePulitzer Prizes. In Savannah she has been an opinion page columnist for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com.

Wanda has been honored nationally for career achievement, including being Inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame, the Ida B.Wells Award for Media Diversity, and she holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from her alma mater, Spelman College.

Wanda is currently an Ambassador member of the AARP Georgia Executive Council based in Atlanta, and she is an advisory board member of The LearningCenter/Senior Citizens, Inc., in Savannah, where she also serves as a lecturer and discussion moderator. She has been a member of the Georgia Writers Association Board of Directors.

Wanda resides in Savannah with her husband, Willie Lloyd. They have a daughter, Shelby Cotton. These days Wanda enjoys consulting with emerging writerswho are finding a way through their journey of writing their own stories and getting them published.

For the past couple of years Wanda has been refining an outline for a sequel to her memoir, and she is waiting for the inspiration–and time–to start writing thebook.