SHERRI BURR lives in Albuquerque, NM, where she has won numerous awards as an author, lecturer, and television producer. She is the Pulitzer-Prize nominated author of Complicated Lives: Free Blacks in Virginia, 1619-1865, which was the 27th of her more than 30 books. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Princeton University, and the Yale Law School, in 1994 she became the first African American female to be awarded tenure and promoted to full professor at the University of New Mexico.
In 2025, she received the Parris Award from Southwest Writers, the organization’s highest honor for a published writer who has contributed substantially to the organization and to advance other writers. In 2024, she was selected as the inaugural Black Women United for Action Fellow at the George Washington Presidential Library. Mount Holyoke College presented her with its Alumni Achievement Award in 2022. In 2021, the National Federation of Press Women announced her as the winner of its highest award, Communicator of Achievement. Also, in 2021, the National Council of Negro Women Albuquerque Section presented her with its Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Legacy Award for “outstanding Achievements in Literacy and Leadership Support for the Community.”
Burr has produced and hosted television talk shows ARTS TALK and Dating 101. Her hobbies include cooking, hiking, golfing, with occasional doses of horseback riding and kayaking.
Her latest book is a family memoir featuring her relationship with a precocious Nephew – Terrance moved in with her when he was 12 years old. Entering puberty he quickly became popular with girls. In Living with Nephew, How I Got Voted the Meanest Parent in the World, Sherri humorously attempts to keep him focused on schoolwork – and away from romance – by drafting contracts to manage his behavior. She also weaves in stories about her own seventh grade year when tragedy struck and forever altered her family.
This is a work of creative nonfiction. I portray these events based on my recollections. While all the stories in this book are true, some of the names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. The book was initially written in 2005 to chronicle the experience of parenting my nephew. In 2006, an early draft of the manuscript won second place in the SouthWest Writers Annual Contest for Nonfiction Books, and reviewed by renowned authors Tony Hillerman and Wally Amos. –Sherri Burr
Link to Book Review by David Steinberg in the Albuquerque Journal
Praise for Living with Nephew
“Oh, what a charmer Sherri Burr’s book is. Can you imagine what happens when the twelve-year-old nephew comes to spend a year with his single Auntie? They both find terror and wisdom—so will the reader. Buy it now. Read it now. Laugh and learn forever.”
—-Max Evans, Author of The Hi-Lo Country, The Rounders, Madam Millie, and Faraway Blue
*****
“Wow – a tremendous story. I really liked how the author weaves in stories of her love life. This book is hilarious yet has a bittersweet ending that brought tears to my eyes.”
Melody Groves, Author of Before Billy the Kid: The Boy Behind the Legendary Outlaw
*****
“I was a witness to a devoted auntie’s dedication to her Nephew and his antics. Sherri’s fun stories demonstrate the love and affection both auntie and Nephew have for each other.”
Kathleen A. Hessler, J.D., R.N., Author of Promise Me, Daughter, A Nurse Attorney Navigates Her Mother’s Early-Onset Alzheimer’s
*****
“Sherri Burr’s account of parenting her 12-year-old nephew in his seventh-grade year is by turns hilarious and poignant. There is a lot of wisdom in these pages about life, learning and love. The honesty of both Auntie and Nephew makes this a riveting tale.”
Dr. Suzanne Geissler Bowles, Author of God and Sea Power
*****
“This book has wonderful energy. When law professor Sherri Burr invites twelve-year-old Nephew to live with her, she transforms both her world and his. Living with Nephew leads the reader on a hilarious and weighty adventure. Sherri and Nephew challenge and educate each other. And in the process, each becomes a better person. You will love this memoir.”
Judith S. Avila, NYT bestselling Author of Code Talker: The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII.
*****
“Charming is the right word. I could see this selling to all mothers in “recovery.”
Dr. Sue Brown, Retired Pediatrician, UNM School of Medicine
*****
“Sherri Burr is a talented storyteller, and her book is incredibly moving. In Living with Nephew, Sherri captures the complexities of devastating family events, including domestic violence, abandonment, and sexual abuse, in a way that showcases resilience and strength instead of bitterness and defeat.”
Theresa Mancuso, Occupational Therapist