I’ve spent my entire adult life promoting writing and literature. My desire to be a part of a literary community was the one thing my twenty-two-year-old self knew when I enrolled in my first college course, and it remains one of the enduring loves of my life. It propelled me through a career spent operating an independent bookstore, and it inspired me to pursue another career spent writing and teaching.

I grew up in rural Illinois in a large, gloriously messy family. I write mostly creative nonfiction with a little poetry thrown in for good measure. I graduated with a BA in English and Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Washington University in St. Louis.

My work has appeared in Best American Essays 2025, The Colorado Review, AWP’s Writer’s Chronicle, Electric Literature, Fourth Genre, HuffPost, and elsewhere.

Writing and teaching have put me in rooms with some of the brightest students I’ve ever met and gifted me with the chance to mentor and learn every day.

I’d love the chance to work with you.