Biography

I write features for Crain’s Chicago Business and some national publications. I am based in Chicago. I’ve reviewed books for People, vacation spots for Outside and spent more than two years eating my way in and around the Loop for Crain’s, where I was chief restaurant reviewer. I started my journalism career at the Bergen Record, in Hackensack, N.J., where I wrote about business and contributed to the travel and book review sections. I loved writing for a daily newspaper.

I grew up in idyllic Demarest, N.J., and graduated from Marymount School of New York. I began writing professionally while I was a student at Barnard College, Columbia University.

A collection of poems I wrote during college won the Lenore Marshall Prize for Poetry. When I talked to my advisor about careers, she paused and said, “Well, of course, you’ll be a poet.” That seemed too solitary. I wanted to find and tell stories, to explore. So, I took a job at a newspaper. I’ve been writing both fiction and non-fiction ever since.

A note about this site. For editors, I’ve posted a dozen clips, from mini reviews to multipage profiles and features. For agents, publishers, friends and family I’ve posted “The Bicycle Poem,” the short story “Spectators,” two chapters from the novel “Lincoln Park” and two chapters of “Town.”