About

I like coffee. A lot. Writing gives me time to go get a cup without my kids. I like books as much as I like coffee, but  it is easier to read with children hanging on you than drink coffee due to the threat of third degree burns. That’s why coffee gets top billing in my intro: its unattainability.

I have a Masters in English with a specialization in 18th century women’s studies.  While this is a highly marketable area of expertise, it pretty much means my 4 year-old son uses correct grammar and I’m behind on publications of the last, oh, 100 years or so.

I have a ridiculously supportive husband who dreams of being included on a book jacket: “The author lives in Kansas with her husband, two children, and a Tuesday cat.” He even cooks dinner.

My debut novel, CREWEL, was written during NaNo ’10 and will be published on October 16, 2012 by FSG/Macmillan.  I’m represented by Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media.

Short (and vastly more professional) bio:

Gennifer Albin holds a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Missouri. During her student years she served as an editor for Pleaides and The Missouri Review, and since then she’s founded the tremendously popular blog theconnectedmom.com.  She lives in Kansas with her ridiculously supportive husband, two small children, and a Tuesday cat.

Long (and slightly more interesting) bio:

A former academic with a specialization in 18th century women’s studies, Gennifer Albin gave up teaching—both at the high school and college levels—to raise her children at home. But when the economy tanked, Gennifer and her husband soon found themselves filing for bankruptcy after struggling through his unemployment. Rock bottom turned into the foundation on which she decided to rewrite her life.

Gennifer combined her love of writing with her fascination for a surrealist painting by Remedios Varo, Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle. The painting of girls creating the world caused her to weave a tale in her mind. Lack of a home computer didn’t deter her, and she wrote the first draft on public library computers as the system counted down the seventy minutes she was allowed to work.

With the support of her family, Gennifer spun Crewel, a sweeping literary novel that follows sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys as she navigates a treacherous world where women are cultivated into femme fatales, called Spinsters, to weave the very fabric of life. Pitched as Mad Men meets The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games, Crewel received seven agent offers of representation by May and sold at auction between five houses within a week of submission to editors.

Gennifer recalls the most poignant part of her whirlwind—having to sell her beloved antique books to keep food on the table. She now writes full-time while happily rebuilding her library in Kansas with the help of her ridiculously supportive husband, two young children, and a Tuesday cat. She is the founder of theconnectedmom.com, a blog about positive parenting for modern mothers, and she moderates a private group for write-at-home moms, or WrAHMs, offering advice, support, and insight into the complexities of writing while raising young children. Learn more about her at genniferalbin.com.