Wendell Steavenson was born in New York and grew up in London. She writes for the New Yorker Magazine and other publications. In 2014, she was the recipient of a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

She is the author of The Weight of a Mustard Seed The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny. (Harper 2009).

Her acclaimed book Stories I Stole (Atlantic Books 2003), a personal account of post-Soviet war torn Georgia, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.

A former correspondent for TIME, she has published stories in The New Yorker, Granta, Prospect and The Daily Telegraph. Her screenplay, based on her experiences in Iraq, was made into The Situation, the first American narrative film to deal with the occupation of Iraq. Steavenson has lived in Iraq, Iran, Georgia and Egypt.