Claire Dean Bio

I’ve been a fiction writer for twenty years, but it’s only

in the

last couple of years that I’ve turned to young

adult novels.

GIRLWOOD was written for my daughter.

As she

entered junior

high

hoped I could pass down

some

the things I'd learned

about magic, nature’s

amazing ability to heal us, and the

strength and

resilience of women and girls. Though we all grow

up,

we don’t have to lose our belief in magic and love of

the

natural world, or our faith that everything will turn

out well.

I'm at work on two books now, a novel tentatively titled

GREENSPELL, about the healing and destructive powers in

nature, and a story for my son entitled

SPIRIT CALLER.

For

him,

I wanted to write a book about the

coming of age of

young

men,

and the spirits that

guide them on their journeys.

I am many things other than a writer, the most

important of

which are a mother, wife, sister,

daughter, and friend. I love to

teach writing in my

children’s classes, to garden, to walk in the

woods, to

go out to lunch with friends, to hike and read and

watch football on Sundays. I live in Boise, Idaho in a

bright

green house with a jungle of a garden outside.

My favorite

escape is our family cabin in the woods—a

rustic retreat

without

any electricity, and the basis for

Polly’s dad’s cabin in

GIRLWOOD.

Claire Dean