Molly has been in the Advanced Writers Workshop since September 2007, and she is thrilled to join the StoryStudio team as the Studio Coordinator. 

Molly grew up in Wisconsin, where she began writing about the world around her. Her first story, 1984’s “Raccoons Looking in a Mailbox” asked the reader to grapple with an important question: What are those raccoons looking for? Later, she turned to poetry, and the 1990s saw rich, elusive metaphors such as the oft-quoted “my heart is a purple / lake of pain / how could you stand me up / on prom night?” After graduating from Grinnell College, Molly moved to New Mexico, where she got 150 middle schoolers to write novels with her for NaNoWriMo.

Her first novel Paige, Turning (out for submission) is about a girl whose life seems perfect: popular friends, a great boyfriend, and a strong bid at becoming Homecoming Queen… until an accident causes her to discover a new talent, and she realizes that perfect might not be good enough.  Her second novel, Out of Dodge, is about a road trip that goes very, very wrong. 

Molly recently moved from New Mexico to Chicago, where she curses snow, writes for young adults, and stops to pet every dog she sees.