SCHool Magazine Features

Springside School, Chestnut Hill Academy, and SCH boast over 40 alumni authors including the poet laureate of Vermont, a former cast member of the “West Wing" whose book spent its first three weeks in the top three of the New York Times best-seller list, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, CNBC’s senior Washington correspondent, and a world-renowned athlete who was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated—twice.

Maura Cheeks ’05

Maura Cheeks’ Acts of Forgiveness (2024), a novel, was named a most anticipated book by Elle, The Root, Real Simple, and The Millions. This book, her first, imagines the country has just passed the nation’s first reparations bill for Black families.

Owner and general manager of Liz’s Book Bar in Brooklyn, NY, Cheeks was named one of “10 Writers to Watch” by Publishers Weekly. Her other work has been published in the Paris Review, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Tin House, and others. In 2019, she was awarded the Masthead Reporting Residency for The Atlantic’s first residency program, where she worked on the feature article that would later inspire the idea for her novel.

Cheeks received the Springside Outstanding Young Alumna Award in 2014.

“My earliest memory of falling in love with writing was after my 4th-grade teacher, David McCullough, assigned everyone to write a play for the Young Playwrights Contest,” says Cheeks. “My play, Mr. T.P.'s Deal, ended up winning first place, and I distinctly remember working with Mr. McCullough on the revision and loving every minute of the process. If it weren't for his encouragement or for that assignment, I don't know if I would have realized that my calling was to become a writer. I'm forever grateful.”