Attention is the beginning of devotion. — Mary Oliver
Amber Adams Niven is a writer, author, and creative facilitator rooted in the Southern Appalachians. She is co-author of two Appalachian Trail guidebooks published with Falcon Guides and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, where she received the Norris Church Mailer Scholarship. She is currently pursuing her MFA and is at work on a memoir about what it means to root in a place when your spirit longs to roam. She lives in a log cabin in Marshall, North Carolina with her husband and three children.
(Long Version)
Amber Adams Niven is a mother of three, writer, and creative facilitator rooted in Southern Appalachia.
She is co-author of Discovering the Appalachian Trail: A Guide to the Trail's Greatest Hikes (Falcon Guides, 2022) and Hiking the Appalachian Trail Through Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee (Falcon Guides, 2026). She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where she received the Norris Church Mailer Scholarship, and is currently pursuing her MFA. She is at work on a memoir that explores what it means to root in a place when your spirit longs to roam. Her writing has appeared in Smoky Mountain Living, Mountain Xpress, She Explores, and The Trek.
Amber's background includes work in the outdoor industry — outfitting adventurers and teaching backcountry skills — as well as training in movement, Ayurveda, and herbalism. She is the founder of Elder & Co., a ritual candle company rooted in Appalachian landscapes.
Her work speaks to women caught between staying and leaving, between holding it together and falling apart. Through trail guidebooks, memoir, and somatic practice, she offers a single message: your mess isn't something to escape. It's the material — the clay on the wheel, the dirt where roots grow.
She lives in a log cabin in Marshall, North Carolina with her husband, Joshua Niven, and their three children. The Nivens run a small private retreat called Camp Happy Mundo and Asheville Fine Art Printing.
Fun fact: Amber starts most Saturdays with pancakes, herbal tea, and old records — living proof that the creative process runs best on beauty and ritual.
