Photo by Rachel Epstein/ Crafted Hair Studio.

     I am an award-winning writer who believes in the power of narrative nonfiction to bring stories from the past to life in order to inform the world we live in today.

     I am the author of the forthcoming nonfiction book Flowers in the Gutter (Dutton 2020), which tells the true story of the teenage Edelweiss Pirates who fought the Nazis. Through narratives based on memoirs, oral history interviews, and Nazi documents, I immerse the reader in the world of these teenagers as they resist the Third Reich.

     In 2018, I received a Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Ruby's Artist Award for Well of Souls, a literary exploration of the little known history of the banjo in the Americas, it's role as a a spiritual device in the hands of enslaved Africans, and the instrument's legacy in today’s culture and society. 

   My writing explores and highlights forgotten and marginalized histories, and has appeared in The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Bitch Magazine, Narratively, Proximity, Atlas Obscura, OZY, and other smaller history and music publications. My story about a midwife in 1909 Baltimore was a finalist for Proximity Magazine's 2017 Narrative Journalism Prize and in earlier in 2017, I co-wrote and co-produced a radio segment for the Marc Steiner Show on the legacy of one of Baltimore's most well-known Confederate monuments. I hold an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Goucher College, where my thesis focused on the stories of doctors, public health workers, and midwives in the struggle for safe childbirth during the Progressive Era. I sit on the board of the Baltimore City Historical Society and am a member of the KnowYourHistory Collective. 

    I came to writing by way of museums.  At the Mount Clare Museum House in Baltimore, I co-curated an exhibit on the art and craft of modern teapots within the context of a colonial mansion.  Though a Network to Freedom grant, I researched the manumission of enslaved African Americans held in bondage on the property.  In 2009, I moved to West Virginia, where I worked with multiple organizations to promote heritage tourism.  At the Upshur County Historical Society, I digitized and archived their local history collection; edited the reminiscences of a member of the community; and wrote for their journal.  I produced a CD of field recordings from banjo player and ballad singer Currence Hammonds through the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia.  I also assisted in the creation of exhibits at the Beverly Heritage Center. 
     I graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with degrees in History and Modern Languages (German and Spanish).  My honors thesis was on the German Historical Museum in Berlin, Germany and identity creation in museums. 
     In my free time, I weave on a beautiful eight-harness floor loom my great-aunt Suzzie gave to me; play the fiddle with banjo-maker Pete Ross; nerd out about banjos; and volunteer with non-profits that promote cancer awareness like There Goes My Hero, the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, and First Descents.