When she is not writing or managing her pack of crazy canines (and a laid-back feline), Patricia Marchesi teaches AP Literature to an amazing group of high school seniors. Previously, she was a college English professor specializing in Shakespeare and Renaissance drama. Her academic research into the role of trees and forests in Shakespeare’s plays led to her discovery of how precious and rare old-growth forests are and inspired her to write Florissant. Before embarking on the young adult fantasy genre, she wrote two science fiction novels for middle grade readers, Shelby & Shauna Kitt and the Dimensional Holes and Shelby & Shauna Kitt and the Alterax Buttons, both of which were self-published and won Children’s Literary Classics gold awards.

Marchesi is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has also lived in Austria and England. In the United States, she has lived in New York, Delaware, Arizona, Georgia, and (now) Colorado.

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