Roberto Bolaño says that literature is a dangerous calling. Then writing your first novel is a wild-west, gun-slinging, bullet-dodging, hailstorm of fire and fury, and I'll be damned to have just come out the other side.

I stayed in school as long as humanly possible, and learned two things in the process. Anyone can learn just about anything. And intelligence comes in all shapes and sizes. I got my PhD in literature at Emory and my MA in humanities at NYU, where I learned to think, teach, and write.

Places close to my heart: Bologna, Italy, where I studied as a university student; Bahia, Brazil, where I lived as a samba dancer; Berlin, Germany, where I received a grant to write my dissertation; and Los Angeles, where I met my husband and raise my son, Deacon (a Boxer/German Shepherd mix).