Born and raised in the Show-me-State, I am a gal in love with all things lovely and literary. Creativity and books seem to seep into every corner and crevice of my life. If I’m not writing, I’m reading. If not reading, then I’m thinking about home design & décor, or rolling up my sleeves and doing it myself. I am inspired by art, nature, architecture, old homes, psychology, music, and travel. I believe life should be celebrated, from the grandiose to the obscure. Especially the obscure.
“I love books . I adore everything about them.”
Creator & Host of Award-winning Author Interview Series|Writers Interviewing Writers. Featuring warm & thoughtful interviews each week since 2013.
Author of Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech, now in its 2nd edition and a soon-to-be-audiobook from Penguin Random House, narrated by the author.
On-submission: Model Home: Motherhood, Madness & Memory
“I love the feel of the pages on my fingertips. They are light enough to carry, yet so heavy with worlds and ideas . I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”
― Nnedi Okorafor
THE BOOK OF PHOENIX
Credits & Acknowledgements: Leslie’s writing and photography have been featured in various print and online literary journals, including Psychology Today, Mutha Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, Manifest-Station, Motherwell, Cleaver Magazine, Pithead Chapel, Ruminate’s The Waking, Tiferet Journal, The Mighty, among others. She has been recognized by Jane Friedman as one of the most influential book reviewers.
She drives a deep interest in place and how that shapes us, and the interstitial connection of family, dysfunction, and the symmetry and parallels of nature. As a visual artist, her focus is on deteriorating architecture. Designed to be huge forces of permanence, these structures are continually being challenged, destroyed, and forgotten. They possess an energized present—and presence—as they attempt to escape their fragmented reality.
Leslie is a former child/adolescent psychiatric R.N. at the Mayo Clinic and has attended writing classes and workshops at Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She resides in the Chicago area.
