Pat Valdata is a poet and novelist with an MFA in writing from Goddard College. Her prizewinning poetry book, Where No Man Can Touch, has just been published in a revised edition by Wind Canyon Books. Her earlier poetry books,  Inherent Vice and the chapbook Looking for Bivalve, are no longer in print. Her most recent novel, Eve's Daughters, won first prize in the Delaware Press Association contest in 2021. Her fiction publications include two other novels, Crosswind and The Other Sister, which won a gold medal from the Árpád Academy in 2008. She is a recipient of the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellowship to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and three individual artist awards from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Valdata is a retired professor who taught English and creative writing for the University of Maryland Global Campus and the Salisbury University Center for Extended and Lifelong Learning. She has judged creative writing competitions in poetry and fiction.

Valdata is a licensed pilot who flew sailplanes and single-engine land planes. She instructed in sailplanes and is a founding member of the Women Soaring Pilots Association.