ABOUT LISA
Connection with My Dad
Connection with My Dad
Connection with My Dad
On December 21, 1972, my dad,
the slot pilot with the USAF Thunderbirds,
slammed into the Nevada earth
while on a test flight in an F-4.
The crew chief in the back seat
on the final flight of his Thunderbird tour
was killed with him.
My dad was 30 years old;
I was 3 1/2.
The only memory I own of my dad
are of his hands typing.
It wasn't until I was writing a book about him that my friend MaryJo pointed out
what should've been obvious:
my only memory is of my dad typing.
Writing.
What you do, Lisa.
Writing Reality
Connection with My Dad
Connection with My Dad
I wrote my first education book
about the life cycle of spiders,
completed in January 2003.
After the ISBN had been assigned to the book but before it was published,
the publisher went bankrupt.
It has been (and still might be) online "for sale" for years
but never existed in print!
Kudos
Connection with My Dad
**BOOK SIGNING**
Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, MN
* Honorable Mention for the
McKnight Artist Fellowship in Children's Literature/Older Children TWICE
* Minnesota State Arts Board grant recipient three times
* Minnesota Book Awards judge or facilitator for several years
* MNSCBWI Mentoree
* Finalist in Nonfiction,
The Loft Literary Center Mentor Series,
six times
* Shabo Award participant
with Marion Dane Bauer;
The Loft Literary Center
* One of 7 finalists in the Memorists Collective Memoir Contest; MySpace
* Selected for limited enrollment in "Write That Book" with Cheri Register;
The Loft Literary Center
* Individual Artist Grant, Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council
(Most of) My Top-Shelf Books
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell **I first read it in 7th grade**
In the Wilderness by Kim Barnes
The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
by Anthony Doerr
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Beth Griffin and illustrated by Maribel Lechuga
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Toot and Puddle (#1) by Holly Hobbie
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama
America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States
by Erika Lee
The Color of Water by James McBride
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Population 485 by Michael Perry
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Educated by Tara Westover
Traveling
I've lived in México, Italy, and Japan;
I've traveled to 30 countries
and almost all of the US;
I LOVE to meet new people,
experience new cultures,
and dine on ethnic food!
This photo is from my
50th birthday trip to Scotland!
I'm published!
My first-ever book signing
at the Book Warehouse
in Medford, Minnesota,
on October 11, 2008.
I sold more of
The Story of the Minnesota Wild
on this day than I did at a
Wild home hockey game!
(Sadly, the book is now out of print.)