Born and raised in Ann Arbor, USA. Creative Writing major at Interlochen Arts Academy. Bachelor's in English from Oberlin College, 1991. Spent the 1990s studying shamanism in Latin America and learning how to teach English. Moved to Vienna, Austria in 2000; returned to the USA in 2017 and worked in Virginia and Kansas before settling in Baltimore, Maryland. Master's in Applied Linguistics from University of Massachusetts - Boston, 2006.