Helen Thorpe was born in London and grew up in Medford, New Jersey. Her journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Texas Monthly, and Slate. Her radio stories have aired on This American Life and Soundprint. She is also the author of Soldier Girls and Just Like Us. Her work has won the Colorado Book Award and the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. She lives in Denver, Colorado.