EMILY BUMP GIRARD writes emotionally layered, character-driven fiction set in the fictional Appalachian town of Radiant, Virginia. Her stories explore the quiet revolutions of everyday people—recovering, reconnecting, and reaching for grace in unexpected places.

Before Healthcare: Publishing & Skydiving
Emily’s first career was in publishing. She spent years as managing editor and graphic designer for Parachutist Magazine, where she also logged nearly 1,000 skydives—and met her husband. That chapter of her life taught her about risk, trust, and what it means to leap into the unknown. She hasn’t jumped in a decade, but the lessons remain.

She holds a BA in English with a writing concentration and designed all the graphics on this website, from the mountain logo to Jojo’s Notebook illustrations. Her background in theater—more than a decade as both actor and director in local productions—shapes how she builds scenes and writes dialogue. She thinks cinematically, constructing moments that unfold like watching a stage come to life.

Healthcare & Writing
Emily has been a physician assistant in the Shenandoah Valley for more than two decades. These days, she works night shift and writes between patients and on her days off. Her work blends medical realism, spiritual questioning, and the tangled joys and griefs of chosen family. As a woman in long-term recovery, she writes from lived experience about survival, resilience, and second chances.

Life in the Valley
She lives with her husband and three daughters in Mount Sidney, Virginia—a tiny place on Route 11 that most people pass by on their way somewhere else. An avid cyclist, she explores the back roads of the Shenandoah Valley by bike, capturing the landscapes and small-town architecture that inspire Radiant. Most of the photographs on this site were taken by Emily during her rides.

She loves sycamore trees and quiet mornings with her dogs, and is almost always working on a new novel.