I am the author/illustrator of nineteen children's books, including the international best-sellers, The Rumpoles & The Barleys series. In 1995 I went into Central Juvenile Hall, Los Angeles with the desire to teach creative writing to incarcerated youth. Out of that experience grew the nonprofit, InsideOUT Writers. I co-edited a book of student writing titled "What We See: Poems and Essays from Inside Juvenile Hall," published a magazine of student writing, and was the IOW president until 2006. From that time on I have devoted myself full-time to writing. I have published essays and short stories in the United States, as well as Ireland, Syria, and China and am a Fellow at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland and Hambidge Center in Georgia.
I've had many adventures, many of which have happened in far-flung countries. For that reason, I'm working on a memoir, "Into The World." I've lived in a castle in Switzerland,a chalet in France, an old Italian house