Interview with Patricia Knight Meyer

It’s a real treat to share my interview with debut memoirist Patricia Knight Meyer during National Adoption Awareness Month; a time set aside to recognize the profound impact that adoption has played in lives touched by adoption. Even though author Patricia Knight Meyer and I have never met in person, our paths continually cross. Back in 2024, I wrote a guest blog for her site, MyAdoptedLife.com.  Together, we have navigated the publication world as we searched for the right publisher to get our adoption search and reunion stories out in the world. I also had the unique privilege of writing an endorsement for her newly released and highly praised memoir, Wonderland.

Tell my audience a little more about yourself?

I’m Patricia Knight Meyer, and I am a black-market baby of the Baby Scoop Era.

Today I am a full-time adoption reform advocate. I serve on the board of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents and host the NAAP Happy Hour on Zoom on the third Friday of every month. I speak at adoption conferences and at adoption camps, to adoptees and to adoptive parents. I write at www.myadoptedlife.com and lead memoir writing workshops. I am a champion of more transparency and oversight in the adoption process. I also founded YAYDNA Genetic Greetings after realizing adoption reunion and DNA discovery cards did not exist.

How would you describe the story you tell in your book?

In 1970, I was trafficked as an infant along a Texas hospital curb. No agency. No judge. No paperwork. No questions asked. I was never legally adopted. I grew up celebrating a made-up birthday, haunted by nightmares of “The Dark Man,” and using a fraudulent birth certificate. I did not receive a legally obtained birth certificate until I was 47 years old.

My adopted parents, blackmailed by the attorney they hired to skirt the adoption system, faced an impossible choice. Go to the police or pay up. They paid about $30,000 to keep me––their paperless baby. 

I found my birth mother first, and through her, my birth father. Because I found him, he was able to give the testimony that provided my first legal birth certificate at 47 years old.

Who is the publisher, and what is the publication date?

 Unsolicited Press released my book on November 3, 2026, during National Adoption Awareness Month. Before that, I had two years of querying, decided to go hybrid, and then found a publisher just months before I was going to self-publish.

My memoir comes in eBook, audiobook, and print. I retained the audio rights and published the audiobook myself under my own imprint, YAYDNA Press. I narrate it.

What prompted you to write this book? 

I always said I would tell my story when I had a story to tell. Having found both my biological parents and discovered the attorney who trafficked me (he also trafficked a cousin of mine), I knew that I was ready to tell my story.

My work within the adoption community on reunion and healing also inspired me to write my story. Many other adoptees are experiencing reunions they are unprepared to have. I wanted to share my experience of reunion, the mistakes I made, and the lessons I learned along the way to help other adoptees traveling a similar path.

What are the main themes of the book? 

WONDERLAND is about identity. At 38, I still had no records, no known birth name, and no confirmed date or place of birth. 

It is also about family. I navigated my adoptive mother’s violent alcoholism and cared for my disabled father. Yet, no one in the book is simply a hero or a villain.

It is also about reunion, and how finding your birth family is not the end of the story. Reunion is complex, and it is important to prepare before you go in. 

It is also about records. In Texas, adult adoptees are the only adults denied their own original birth certificate. As I mentioned, I did not have a legal birth certificate until I was 47. This lack of transparency encourages bad actors rather than deters them. Access to one’s own birth record is also a basic human right. 

I am a champion of more transparency and oversight in the adoption process.

What do you hope readers take away from your story?

I hope I may inspire others to find their truth. I often say it is not who you find, but that you find; that is what matters when it comes to learning the truth behind your origin story. I wrote this so other adoptees could see the mistakes I made and prepare before they go looking. 

And as Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao wrote, “You might think this is an outlier story. It isn’t.”

What were your greatest challenges in writing this book?

I had to heal before I could tell the truth about what happened to me. Then, just as I was finally writing it down, everything came apart again. A divorce. A house fire that took everything I owned. I kept writing.

The satisfactions: the moment a publisher said yes to Wonderland, and I could share this story. The moment Publishers Weekly called it “Meyer’s haunting debut… both a poignant personal narrative and a work of impressive reporting.” And the moment I step onto the stage at the Bullock Texas State History Museum and play myself in a scene from the book.

What 3 tips of advice do you have for aspiring women looking to write their first book?

One. Do the work to heal first.

Two. Build your community long before you write your book. Build relationships with people who care about the subject matter. Support other authors on their journeys.

Three. Listen to your gut. People will share their opinions; listen to them, consider them, and take what resonates with you. But if you feel strongly in your gut about something, remember this is your book.

More about Patricia Knight Meyer:

Patricia Knight Meyer is a journalist and adoption reform advocate. Hers is the story of a bartered baby who grew up to effect change and advocate for adoption reform. A University of Texas journalism graduate, she serves on the board of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents, hosts a monthly Happy Hour Zoom for NAAP and a monthly writing group for Concerned United Birth Parents, keynotes at national adoption conferences, and works with Texas adoptee rights leaders on original birth certificate access. Her essays have appeared in Ms. Magazine and Severance, and she has appeared on Al Jazeera’s The Stream and HuffPost Live. She runs the online community at myadoptedlife.com. WONDERLAND is her debut, published at 56, after five years writing, two years editing, and two years pitching.

Follow her here:
Book: www.wonderlandthememoir.com
Website and resources for the newly reunited: www.myadoptedlife.com
Media kit: myadoptedlife.com/media-kit
Instagram: @somebodys__baby and @wonderlandthememoir
Facebook: Wonderlandthememoir
TikTok: @myadoptedlife
Bluesky: @myadoptedlife.bsky.social
Email: patricia@myadoptedlife.com

BOOK AWARD NEWS

Jack and Lulu Go to the Tree Farm is a Winner! First Place Award in Nonfiction-Relationships-Family category

FOLLOW ME HERE

November 2-30, I’m participating in Deb Landwehr Engle’s month-long course at Story Summit called The Writer’s Miracle Method which is based on Deb’s hot new release by the same title. 

November 19, thrilled to be a panelist for the She Writes Press C.A.M.P community when we gather with an expert from Net Galley to discuss the importance of book reviews. 

November 20, James Lott will host me on his podcast, In Between the Pages, and we will discuss all things writing. Link forthcoming. 

November 24, My interview with JoAnn Dickinson, host of Beyond the Book will air on November 24. Link to preview clip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JN6CjftaQw0T40LL2vEmVfh-O89xe655/view

March 8 – 12, 2027: I will attend the Her Spirit women’s writing retreat put on by Story Summit in Tucson, Arizona at El Conquistador Tucson, A Hilton Resort.

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Publishing News

Spring of 2027: I’m pleased to announce that Book 2 in my Let’s Go with Lulu children’s book series, Lulu and DJ Go to the Car Wash, will release with Atmosphere Press. It’s based on the real-life story about adventures with my oldest grandson during the COVID era.​

November 2027: the re-envisioned collection of my essays, titled Belonging Matters: Conversations on Adoption, Family, and Kinship, will be re-published by She Writes Press. I’m thrilled to move this work under the same publishing umbrella that offers my two memoirs: Twice a Daughter, and Twice the Family.

Follow Julie by visiting her website, subscribe to her bimonthly newsletters, and listen to previous podcast recordings where she discusses topics like adoption, identity, family relationships, sisterhood and belonging.

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