<p>I was born in Northern California and grew up in a rural summer crafts school, where people from all over the world came to make things. As a result I received in-depth training in pottery, weaving, cooking, construction, and how to grow things. I got a degree in fashion design and eventually achieved an MFA in sculpture, where I learned to blow glass and weld. I have a long-standing fascination with automata and clockwork, particularly those of the 18<sup>th</sup> century.</p> <p>After many international travels, I now live with my two daughters and husband, and work as an educator and a writer, in the same countryside where I was raised. <em>Songs for a Machine Age</em> is my first published novel.</p>