<p>I am the co-founder of InsideOUT Writers, a Los Angeles-based creative writing program for incarcerated and at-risk youth and I love empowering youth who have felt powerless to make their voices heard. Training in martial artist, Eskrima, boxing and kick-boxing has been a life-long pursuit. I teach boxing, kick-boxing and self-defense at Tarzana Boxing. I have published nineteen children's books, most notably the best-selling The Rumpoles & The Barleys series, which has been translated into many languages, recently into Slovenian. Numerous essays and short stories of mine have been published in literary journals, such as The Adirondack Review, Mobius Magazine, Wilderness House Review, Burnside Writers Collective, Damazine in Syria and Terracota in China. I have received Fellowships at Martha's Vineyard, The Tyrone Centre in Ireland, and The Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences. The project I am working on now was short-listed for the Fish Publishing Competition and was a semi-finalist in the William Faulkner Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. I love to travel and have lived in England, Slovenia, Switzerland and France. My greatest inspirations are my three children, Katya, Harrison and Max.</p>
