After earning her PhD in Russian literature from UC Berkeley in 2011, Cameron Bellm traded the academic life for the contemplative life, informed by Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching. Cameron is the author of “Prayer for a Pandemic,” which went viral in the early days of COVID-19. In May 2020 she published A Consoling Embrace: Prayers for a Time of Pandemic, an e-book collection of prayers, with 23rd Publications. Cameron has written many devotionals and is currently at work on her first book, The Sacrament of Paying Attention: Contemplative Practices for Restoring Sacred Human Communion, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2025. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.