About Me

I’m a city girl from farm country—born in Des Moines and raised in Omaha—where I was fond of tromping through wood lots and reading books by flashlight. In high school I captained the debate team, founded the math club, and didn’t date much. In university I studied particle physics, and worked briefly at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland.

I loved physics, but it’s not the best career to combine with another passion, and soon I chose to pack it in and devote my energy to my true loves: writing and this nice boy I’d met on the Internet.

It worked out well. I wrote and published three books — two volumes of poetry and a memoir — under my maiden name, Erin Noteboom. My poetry has won the CBC Canadian Literary Award, whose previous winners include Michael Ondaatje and Carol Shields, and several other awards.

And the boy? His name is James. I emigrated to Canada to be with him, and we’ve been married for ten years. He’s also a writer, with three novels for young adults. We live in Kitchener, Ontario with our girls, three-year-old Vivian and baby Eleanor.

Of all writing, I like poetry and children’s stories best. From a writer’s point of view, they have in common mindfulness about the magic of language. From a reader’s, they have in common the power to stay in your heart a long time, and maybe even make your soul a little stronger.

My first children’s book Plain Kate, a Russian-flavoured historical fantasy, is due out from Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic) in 2010. Thanks to my awesome agent, Emily van Beek at Folio, for changing my life with this six-figure sale!