is an award-winning writer of memoir, fiction, and magazine articles. As the daughter of a former Catholic nun caught by a fisherman, she grew up writing in notebooks along the backwaters of the Mississippi River. Her memoir Newlyweds Afloat describes three years of living aboard a trawler in downtown Chicago. Her artistic process as a writer, teacher, and editor focuses on collaboration among individuals and artistic mediums. She currently lives with her family and writes on the northern shore of Lake Superior.