Bio

When I was a kid, I wanted to be Princess Leia. That led me to acting, which led to playwriting, which has ultimately brought me to writing fiction. (I still write plays, too.)

I grew up in rural Eastern Ontario and spent many years in Canada making theatre before coming to the United States. I have an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop and was a founding member of Working Group Theatre. My work has been produced in regional theaters across the US and in the UK. My play Apples in Winter won the National New Play Network Smith Prize and the Susan Glaspell Award and is published by Original Works. Other plays include Atlas of Mud (Kennedy Center National Science Playwriting Award), Out of Bounds (NEFA National Theatre Award with Working Group), and Birth Witches (nominated for the ATCA/Steinburg New Play Award).

My first book, Beneath the Stairs, was inspired by a haunted house I went into as a kid. Keep This for Me is inspired by a true story and is based on a play I wrote (with a different title) many years ago. I like to live with stories for a long time.

I’ve lived in Toronto and Iowa and now live in the Hudson Valley with my husband and son.