AUTHOR BIO
Libby started writing stories when she was a child; her first sale was a short story to Redbook magazine a year after she graduated from college.
It was awhile before Little, Brown published her novel Blow Out the Moon. Booklist gave it a starred review ("The word 'delightful' is over-used in reviews but it's hard to find one that's more appropriate ....")
Another review talked about the vividness and clarity of the writing: "Soon the words on the page disappear and you are there with her...destined to become a classroom classic." The New York Public Library chose it as a Best Title for Reading & Sharing; it won a Massachusetts Book Award.
The book was written in the early days of the Web and had readers before it was published. Libby didn't approach editors until she had a collection of emails from children and reviewers who'd read it online. Children's Literature called the novel "entirely refreshing" and the companion Web site "a delightful compilation." That Web site still gets about 30,000 visitors a month.
Libby now divides her time between Stonington, CT and her shepherd's hut on a small Scottish island. The hut has Internet, a landline, and Skype so she can (and does!) keep up with friends and clients in America.
The east side of the island in November, and LIbby.
PRIOR LIFE
Libby has had many writing jobs -- from documenting Shakespeare for Steve Jobs to ghostwriting children's books for publishers.
She taught writing to college students at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Harvard Summer School, and later to adults from 18 to 70 at Cupertino Community College in California. During the summer, she designed and taught writing workshops to grades K-6 in various places....and had a number of other jobs, too, including documenting the online Shakespeare for Steve Jobs at NeXT. She was surprised on her first day when people talked so much about a stolen bag of chips. Luckily, she made no comment so no one knew she thought they were talking about potato chips.
Her last job was writing part-time for Fidelity's Web site. That paid enough for her to travel to every continent except Antarctica. While she lived in Boston, she volunteered one day a week at a Boston charter school for boys with learning differences. Since leaving Fidelity, she's freelanced.