­­Indiana Bamboo grew from my memories and imaginings of my early childhood in Ohio and the small town where I was raised in Indiana. Prior to publication, Indiana Bamboo won the Tennessee Mountain Writers Excalibur Award, a one-time award for a first-time novelist, and First Prize in the category of Children’s Book-Fiction in the Connecticut Press Club Awards. I began writing 28 Days of Neon, a New Voices in Children’s Literature: Tassy Walden Awards Middle Grade Finalist, while vacationing with our extended family at our very rustic cabin in Maine, much like Neon’s family’s cabin in Maine.

I received my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Manhattanville College, and I have taught English and Writing at the University of Connecticut and Connecticut State Community College, Norwalk. I am also a lawyer and a former Literary Trustee of the Lorraine Hansberry Properties Trust. I love visiting schools, bookstores, and libraries, and I especially enjoy the wonderful imaginations of my students in creative writing workshops.

My husband and I have three children who are now young adults. While they were growing up, we had almost as many pets as Indiana Bamboo does. We had cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, goldfish, turtles, hermit crabs, a lab mix like Rainbow in 28 Days of Neon, and the occasional garter snakes who were banished to a terrarium on our front porch. Now we live with one rambunctious pup who is as wise as Rainbow and who loves to dance.

Exciting News, April, 2024

I am so happy to be listed in the Indiana Children’s Authors and Illustrators website of the Indiana State Library’s Center for the Book! Thank you to the library, also, for adding Indiana Bamboo and 28 Days of Neon to the permanent collection.