Kristen Lippert-Martin earned her MFA from Columbia University. She's worked at Time magazine, the world-renowned Brookings Institution, and even did a stint as a stand-up comic before turning to writing full-time. She's a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was awarded the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Work-in-Progress grant in 2010. She likes to write stories about people who are secretly awesome and just need to find the right circumstances--often difficult--to discover themselves. Tabula Rasa, her debut novel, was released in September, 2014. It was an Independent Booksellers Association IndieNext pick for Fall 2014 and is a finalist for the International Thriller Writers 2015 Thriller Awards for best young adult novel. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and four children.