Born in Warsaw, Poland and raised in Westborough, Massachusetts, I grew up loving stories in both Polish and English. I spent many hours of my childhood churning out terrible poems and books (in English) on an ancient, Polish typewriter. I dreamt of being a writer, a teacher, an actress, and a ballerina.
After high school, I attended Sarah Lawrence College where I received a BFA in Theater. After some twists and turns, I found myself working at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Mass. Being surrounded by people who were wildly passionate about children’s books rekindled my love of writing. I moved to Boston and attended Simmons College where I received an MA in Children’s Literature and an MFA in Writing for Children.
In 2006 I was lucky enough to be chosen as the Writer-in-Residence for the Boston Public Library. After my residency, I began teaching courses on writing and children’s literature at Simmons College and at other institutions in the Boston area. In 2008, my manuscript After the Failure (then called The Tinkerers) was chosen as a winner of the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award.
These days, I no longer write on an old typewriter; instead, I have a small office where I sit at a tiny desk and type away on my slightly-less-noisy computer. I’m represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
