I was born on a farm in the Red River Valley of eastern North Dakota, and grew up climbing trees, riding my pony and daydreaming under a wide prairie sky. I left North Dakota after college, and have since lived in Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and for the past fourteen years, Michigan. I have a Ph.D. in English, and teach part-time in the English Department at the University of Michigan.

I have published two novels, MAVIS (Fawcett-Columbine, 1996) and DAKOTA, OR WHAT'S A HEAVEN FOR (North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 2010). I also have published a book of scholarship, TEACHING THE POSTMODERN (Routledge, 1992).

My partner and I live in the country near Ann Arbor, with two horses, two dogs, and one cat. When not writing or teaching, I might be trying to improve my nascent woodworking skills, riding horse, working in my garden, reading, exercising at the gym, listening to opera, or planning trips, some of which I actually take. No matter where I am living or what I am doing, I think of myself as a North Dakotan.
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