I was born and raised along with my two sisters and one brother in Maine where wildlife and nature, the rhythm of seasons, were a big part of growing up and learning about life, and they have remained an integral part of my creative work. My parents were educators and avid readers and books abounded in our home. I knew I wanted to be a writer from an early age, and I could often be found with a book in hand, tucked in the nook of a tree or lying in a field. Nature and books were the places where I felt most at home.
My family had a cottage on the coast where we spent summers engulfed by the smells, sounds, and sights of the sea which left an indelible imprint on my senses. I can still vividly recall the stately pines and the wild roses which grew along the shore, the brilliant sunrises and sunsets, and the profusion of wildlife—flora and fauna—right outside the front door. We were flanked on one side by wild blueberry fields and mornings began early with a coffee can gathering ripe fruit for muffins or pancakes—often accompanied by refrains from Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal or One Morning in Maine. We had boats and each of us children looked forward to our first solo journey around the lake—a coming of age ritual. For many years we didn’t have a television but on rainy days there were puzzles, books, board games, marshmallow roasts, and of course, books. Ours was a house of comings and goings—of family, friends, animals. Much like a bear, the house would lie dormant for the winter months only to opened with a flourish each spring. That cottage and place were the inspiration for Great Blue House and my first YA novel, Dillon Dillon, as well as a chapter of my poetry anthology, Into the Ether.
I attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1982 with a degree in History. During my first year, I lost my father in a shooting incident. He was killed by someone who managed to get a gun and use it. That gunshot was life changing for me and every member of my family. When I witness what is happening in America today I am saddened and frustrated because I know that there is no way to fully reconcile these events. And the echo of those gunshots reverberates for the rest of one’s life.
Many of my poems and novels for older children address death and I suppose represents my attempt to come to terms with love and loss of that magnitude. After leaving Wellesly I moved to New York where I earned a Master’s Degree in History from Columbia University focusing on childhood and children’s books in early colonial America. Later I worked in the children’s book department of a New York publishing house and at the National Geographic Society before marrying my husband whom I’d met at Columbia and moving to Rome where my sons, Peter and Max were born.
My early years in Rome where challenging. It was a struggle to master the language and adapt to a new way of life. But it was important to me to immerse myself as deeply as I could in the culture and its people and to plant and cultivate new roots in my new home. It was there that I began writing for children seriously. I met the painter, Georg Hallenleben whose studio was located in an old flour mill. He was exhibiting in local art galleries and I loved the sense of place in his work so I asked him to collaborate. Together we published ten books, winning numerous awards and accolades including The Charlotte Zolotow Award, the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, and a New York Times best illustrated book.
In 1996 we moved to the South of France where I continued to write. But in 2002 my career path was abruptly interrupted when a medical error and a near death experience left me in chronic pain. Working with energy medicine and hynotherapy I slowly recovered. I became a serious student of energy medicine and attended the Regression Academy in the UK, becoming a Hypnotherapist and Regression therapist. Although my first job is to write stories, my second one is to listen to other people’s stories. For me stories are a means not only to create but to enter the space where head meets heart, the place where healing is possible.
I turned to poetry during the pandemic when I sought refuge in nature. Poetry was much like writing a picture book for me, demanding the same sensibility and alchemy of words. The seeds for Into the Ether were planted in the months that followed as I reflected on my own life. As I wrote, surround by my beloved wildlife and fauna, I once again felt, “I’ve come home.”
When I’m not writing or practicing therapy, I love spending time with my family, playing the piano, knitting, doing pottery, puttering around outdoors, and cooking. I especially like making birthday cakes, but I hate cleaning up. And I love being with children. I love watching them and listening to them as much as I love writing for them.
Regal House Publishing is proud to bring you Into the Ether in the fall of 2024.
