Author of The Chronic Illness Experience: Embracing the Imperfect Life; Are Those Kids Yours? - a book about international adoption; Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir, and many essays.Teacher of creative non-fiction writing at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Experienced with chronic illness herself, having been born with Caroli's Syndrome, a rare congenital liver disease; a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures from the University of Chicago; and mother of two daughters.