Pema Chödron is not only an accomplished teacher but a long-time friend and contributor to the Shambhala Sun. The inscription in When Things Fall Apart reads, "With thanks, Pema Chodron". 

Shambhala Publications says of "our favourite nun" that "her radical advice for approaching life's difficulties just seems to ring deeply true with people from many backgrounds."

Pema Chödron became a novice nun in 1974, receiving her ordination from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa after having met her root guru, Chogyam Trungpa, in 1972. She studied with him until his death in 1987 directing first Karma Dzong in Boulder and then Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Ani Pema is helping establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well in continuing her work with western Buddhists of all traditions.