Welcome to my site! 

I have taught fiction and memoir writing for eighteen years--at the University of Virginia, in the South Bronx, University of Denver, The Himalayan Writing Retreat, and over fifteen years at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, where I am core faculty and received the Beacon Award in Teaching Excellence. Lighthouse is a non-profit that is the hub of Denver's literary scene and is a recipient of the Mayor's Award. I also freelance as an editor and write book reviews. 

I received my MFA from the University of Virginia Creative Writing program, where I was a Henry Hoyns Fellow and the Fiction Editor for Meridian. I was also a Bronx Writers’ Center Fellow, attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and received an Atlantic Center for the Arts residency. In all of my writing, whether it’s set in St. Louis or in Cairo, I delve into family, loss and religion.

My novel, Here with the Saints, was one of five finalists for the Virginia Kirkus Literary Award, and has also been a finalist for the Santa Fe Writers' Award and the Dana Award for the Novel. Chapters were published as short stories in The Best New Writing, The Momaya Annual Review, and Unfinished Works. I'm looking for an agent and publisher to get my complete book out into the world. 

 I am also working on a novel in stories, In the Era of Martyrs. It's inspired by my time teaching English at a Coptic Catholic seminary in Cairo before the revolution in 2011.

"Drinking the Nile" published in Another Chicago Magazine
"Djeser Djeseru" published in Harper Collins’ e-book, Forty Stories and The Muddy Backroads anthology published by Madville Publishing
"Sebou Party" published in The Rattling Wall
"The Unhappy Dead" published in the Chicago Tribune's Printers Row Journal

The following are some of my stories and personal essays: 
"Resurrecting Grandma" published in The Southeast Review
"So Hard to Love" published in Gay Mag
"Lying To My Son" published in The Manifest Station
"Out of Focus" published in The Nervous Breakdown
"Absolute Silence" published in The Georgetown Review 

My teaching pages are private, but some of my favorite resource links are on this main page. 

I am a Colorado native and live in Denver with my husband, son and daughter. Thank you for stopping by!