About Me
Thanks for stopping by. Here's a bit about my work.
Act II: My lifelong passion for musical theater, and knowledge of Deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL) led me to create the book and lyrics Hear Me (formerly Brindlebeast), an original musical in voice and ASL, with collaborator, composer Sila Shaman.
In 2009, I established Fat Chance Production Group, LLC,
and, as a producer, began to assemble the extraordinarily talented creative team and cast of Hear Me.
Act I: I wrote and/or illustrated twenty-four books and short stories, including: The Whispering Cloth by
Pegi Deitz Shea, winner of International Reading Association (IRA) Notable Book for a Global Society and IRA Teacher's Choice Award; Secret Signs Along the Underground Railroad, an honors recipient in the picture book category given by Society of School Librarians International; and Parents' Choice Honor Book, Beware the Brindlebeast, which is featured in Hear Me.
As a writer and illustrator, I made presentations and given workshops at the International Reading Association, American Library Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and at many other conferences and schools.
My manuscripts, book dummies, sketches, illustrations, and other artsy paraphernalia are on deposit in the Northeast Children's Literature Collection at the Dodd Center, University of Connecticut, and available to the public.
I did a lot of teaching: I taught illustration for five years at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, CT. I taught writing for young people for eight years in the Lesley University MFA in Creative Writing Program, Cambridge, MA, where all incoming MFA candidates of every genre were required to take my writing seminar, "Finding True North." I continue to lead this seminar for group of writers, teachers, and therapists.
I also make a mean calamari salad.
Want to know more? Click here to view my resume.