Alexandra Penn was a museum kid. The daughter of a photographer and a Scuba diver, she spent her teenage years in the field: Penn has worked with Smithsonian archaeologists, NASA software engineers, volcanologists, and photographers. She also managed to fail Algebra II with a passing grade, which she's a little proud of. Her work is both a love letter to and an intense criticism of the academic world. She has been bitten by a shark, she watched the final shuttle launch from the fire escape outside Launch Control, and she has been a certified diver since age twelve. She likes dogs, long walks on the beach, and socialized medicine. Also books. Penn is one of two Directors of The Writers' Rooms, an editor for hire, an amateur linguist, and a Taurus. Her work has received many accolades, including an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Annual Contest 2017. She spends all her free time on Twitter.