For those of you who have to write reports for school, I will say that I was born in 1965 and I have siblings, all of them older, which makes me the baby of the family. We had a pet cat when I was growing up. He died a long time ago, but I think he is living his next life with the author of Tithe, Holly Black. I have seen pictures and her White Cat appears too similar for mere coincidence. I moved around a lot while I was growing up and I still do. I am married. My husband, Mark Turner, is a professor of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University. We live in Southern California right now, but next summer we will be returning to Ohio. After that, we plan to move to Norway. No kidding. After a year in Norway, it will be back to Ohio with a heigh-ho.I graduated from The University of Chicago with a BA in English Language and Literature with honors in 1987. I worked as a bookseller for seven or eight years before I started writing. My first book was a collection of short stories called Instead of Three Wishes. My first novel was The Thief, which was awarded a Newbery Honor in 1997