Sandra Olivetti Martin

Sandra Olivetti Martin has lived the life of journalism for five decades, chronicling the stories, often hidden in plain view, of her time and place. Whether writing of dyed-in-the-wool characters or herself, she favors stories of a lifetime, the legends by which we come to define ourselves. As a writer, editor, publisher and teacher, she has made her mission uniting readers and writers over good stories.

Martin is best known as founding editor, publisher and columnist at Bay Weekly newspaper, which began in Chesapeake Country in 1993 as New Bay Times. She modeled the paper she founded on Illinois Times in Springfield, Illinois, where she honed her craft. She has also written for the Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and magazines.

A graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy (St. Louis) and St. Louis University, Martin earned a master’s degree in literature and taught writing in colleges and universities, including the University of Illinois at Springfield and the University of Maryland Global Campus.

She grew up in St. Louis, above the legendary Stymie Supper Club and Cocktail Lounge, which lends its name to her book Fire at the Stymie Club: Stories from the Mississippi River to Chesapeake Bay. After fourteen years in Springfield, she settled on the western shore of southern Maryland, where, coincidentally, her English and Irish ancestors settled in the 1700s. She is married to investigative journalist William Lambrecht. After their retirement from journalism, Martin and Lambrecht founded New Bay Books, an independent publishing house for Chesapeake Country.