Sheila Rule is a writer based in New York City. She was a journalist at The New York Times for more than 30 years, including stints as a reporter, editor and correspondent in Africa and Europe. She is now writing a novel and embracing her passion for social justice. She is on the advisory board of the Parole Preparation Project, and a board member of Good Shepherd Services, a leading New York nonprofit serving vulnerable children and families, and the Human Rights Defense Center, which works to protect the rights of people held in U.S. prisons and jails and publishes the award-winning monthly magazine Prison Legal News.