Tonya Graham McQuade is an English Teacher at Los Gatos High School and lives in San Jose, California. Writing has always been one of her greatest passions - whether in diaries, letters, poetry and songs, news and feature articles, blogs, short stories, essays, or now books. She is a great lover of history, historical fiction, poetry, photography, musicals and plays, nature, state and national parks, and world travel.

Tonya’s newest book, A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri, 1862-65, incorporates fifty Civil War letters written by two of her ancestors, along with significant amounts of research and commentary. In addition to this nonfiction text, Tonya is working on a historical fiction novel, Missouri Daughter, which incorporates parts of the letters and also adds imagined chapters about the family’s lives back in Andrew County. On her blog, Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots, she shares updates on her book projects, discusses the family research she is doing, shares travel stories and photos, and provides excerpts from the letters and other relevant texts. 

While teaching, grading student papers, and working on her writing projects keep her busy, Tonya is also an active member of Emerging Civil War, South Bay Writers/ California Writers Club, National League of American Pen Women, and  Poetry Center San Jose. She looks forward to doing more Book Talks and History Presentations in the future, both in person and on Zoom. Click on the “List of Available Presentations” at right to see a list of Civil War-related topics on which she is prepared to present.