Monica Hesse is the author of YA sci-fi novels Stray and Burn, about a virtual-reality experiment designed to create perfect childhoods and the historical YA novel, The Girl in the Blue Coat. She is also a feature writer for the Washington Post, where she has covered royal weddings, dog shows, political campaigns, Academy Awards ceremonies, White House state dinners and some events that felt like a mixture of all the above. She has talked about these stories, and other things, on NBC, CNN, FOX and other TV channels. She hosts a weekly Washington Post chat, Web Hostess, about the culture of the Internet, and lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and their dog.