I grew up on an island and the ocean has always been my playground.
From open water to open pages
Blair Northen Williamson grew up between Richmond, Virginia and the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina, where a lifelong love of the sea took hold early.
She followed that pull around the world, spending over a decade with Global Expeditions Group, living and working on the ocean across the British Virgin Islands, Phuket, Thailand, the Bahamas, and beyond.
You know the BRAVO show Below Deck? That was her life. She was a female deckhand aboard M/Y Peaceful Fish — a 210 ft. shadow vessel, and later served as Chief Stewardess and Private Dive Instructor aboard S/Y Yanneke Too in Phuket, Thailand. It was in the British Virgin Islands in 2008 that she met her husband Sam.
She is a 200-ton Yacht Master Captain, a PADI Scuba Instructor with 500+ certifications, a Collegiate School Hall of Fame athlete, devoted wife, and mother to two girls. Those years beneath the surface now shape every story she writes for children. Williamson knows the ocean doesn't have its own voice. It can't advocate for itself, ask to be protected, or tell you how it feels when something is wrong. Someone has to speak for it. She felt that calling in her bones, not as an obligation, but as a privilege. The ocean gave her everything: her sense of wonder, her courage, her mission in life.
Now, she turned that passion into writing. She writes for children because she believes they are the most powerful force for change on this planet. A child who falls in love with the ocean today will fight to protect it tomorrow. That belief is the heartbeat behind every book.
Represented by Andie Smith, Creative Media Agency.
Adventures that shaped the stories
"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."
— Robert Swan
A life lived in chapters
The Athlete
Collegiate School Hall of Fame, 2019. Virginia State Player of the Year, 2003. Scholar Athlete, All South Team, 4-Year Captain. The discipline of elite sport never left — it moved from the field to the page.
The Yachtie
Female deckhand on M/Y Peaceful Fish. Chief Stewardess and Private Dive Instructor on S/Y Yanneke Too in Phuket. 200-ton Yacht Master Captain. PADI Instructor with 500+ certifications. That was the real Below Deck.
The Author
Three published books. Five major awards. Kirkus Reviews. National speaker. Simon & Schuster forthcoming 2028. Every story rooted in the ocean and a fierce belief in the next generation of ocean protectors.
Press & literary contacts