Quick Bio

(I can’t talk about myself in the third person, so this is me)

I’ve lived outside of Chicago my entire life, currently in the town of Oswego, IL where the race of suburbia meets the quiet of farm country.  My wife and I met on a blind date, one of the worst either of us ever had.  I’m so grateful she agreed to a second.  We have two boys (Aidan, Anderson) who keep us busy with sports, cat videos, and traveling anywhere we can.  My days are spent as an educator in a middle school, my nights as a husband and father, my weekends as a writer. 

I began writing Speechless a few years ago after witnessing a profound moment at a wake of someone taken all too soon.  It stayed with me until I wrote it down and the characters grew from the seed.  In 2016 Speechless gained traction and was selected as a finalist for the middle grade category of a manuscript contest.  After working with through revisions with my mentor, I was offered representation from Marcy Posner of Folio Literary Management. Marcy helped Speechless find a home at Candlewick Press.

Meatier Bio