I was born in Providence, Rhode Island, but after my family moved from Boston to Wisconsin to Northern Virginia, I continued the southward trend by attending graduate school in North Carolina and moving with my husband to New Orleans. We lived there for twenty-six years, working and raising our family, before moving back to the Tarheel State as empty nesters.

As a child, I played classical piano, read voraciously, and enjoyed learning languages, among them French, Spanish, Latin, Russian, and a bit of classical Greek. In high school I discovered the complex rhythms, exotic modalities, and distinctive movements, whether sinuous or aerobic, of Balkan dance and music. This became a lifelong passion that led to several trips to the Balkans, most recently in 2002.

My history degree and love of language and literature steered me to UNC for graduate studies, where Comparative Literature let me explore all my interests. In New Orleans, three months after my third child was born, I became an assistant professor and began teaching and publishing on Russian and European authors. By the time the children were teenagers, I was chairing my department. But my passion for the distinctive richness and vitality of Balkan culture, which grew from a painful history that fused East and West, led me to study and finally publish on the literature and history of that region.

My academic life was fulfilling, but I yearned to write a work of fiction that united my scholarly background, love of travel, and Balkanophilia. And thus was Anna born. 

Though my husband and I miss the vital culture of New Orleans, Carolina has been good to us. Nature surrounds and nurtures us, all our children and grandchildren have settled nearby, and I still Balkan dance once a week.