I am thankful to have grown up in Montana; therefore, at one time I accepted it as normal that I could ride my bike a few miles from home and be standing at the gateway of an immense wilderness -- these sorts of open spaces have profoundly shaped who I am. After receiving a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Montana, I promptly moved to South America, where I became fluent in Spanish, while at the same time falling in love with the people, landscape, and literature of this continent. Though I eventually moved back to the United States in order to pursue my MFA in creative writing, the Peruvian andes have come to be my second home. I have also spent a handful of years as a social worker at an emergency shelter for at-risk youth. I am currently at-work on a translation project of contemporary Bolivian and Peruvian poets.