Writer. Author. Scientist.
Curious Conversationalist.
I love to write and have one-on-one conversations with people. Many of my casual conversations, not meant to be “interviews,” end up with the other person saying to me, “I can’t believe I am telling you all of this!”
I’m genuinely curious about other people — I want to know what someone is thinking, why they did this or that thing, what makes them tick, and people tend to open up to me. This is even more fun when those people are scientists and I can help tell their story to a wider audience than they may have reached otherwise.
When I’m writing fiction, a solitary experience, I love punctuating the hours alone with conversations with experts on topics I need to understand more about, like crime scenes and clinical trials, for some recent examples.
What Do You Write?
I write about science and scientists, and about a lot of other things, too. I write about what I see and experience and about what moves me. I write short and long articles, stories, essays, songs, and poems. I hope to soon add “books” to this list. I write in my journal everyday, something as essential to me as brushing my teeth or a drinking a cup of coffee.
What's New?
March 31, 2026
It’s been a great winter with wonderful opportunities for creating and connecting with other creatives!
At Manor Mill, I hosted Prose Night in January with featured author Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, who read from her new book, Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free. Elizabeth talked about the importance of a narrative arc in non-fiction writing — it’s not enough to say, this is a cool topic! — and stressed how critical grants from organizations like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Maryland Baker Artist Awards have been to her writing. She also says the best (and affordable) writing retreats can be had in National Parks! In March, I hosted an offsite event for the for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference which was in Baltimore this year.
I invited a panel of writers whose work spans fiction, non-fiction, essays, and journalism. Each writer read from their work, and I asked them questions ranging from, “How do you pick which genre — fiction, essay, etc — for the story you want to tell?” to “How do you get your ideas?” to “Take us behind the scenes on the reporting for this story.” During the break, Madison Smartt Bell played the guitar and sang, and I joined him for a duet of “Easy as the Rain,” by The Little Willies. We wrapped up the evening with reflections on how living in Baltimore has shaped everyone’s experiences as a writer.
Season 4 of the Science Fare podcast is running strong! We’ve released eight episodes so far, and have eight to go. Released episodes feature a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist with guest host high school student Lucy Pohl, a Baltimore City police officer who explains how physics helps car crash investigations, a Johns Hopkins University sustainability engineer working to make building heating and cooling more efficient, and a University of Wisconsin-Madison emeritus genomic scientist who helped usher in the beginning of the field (and was my Ph.D. advisor!)
My piece on Rob Knight and the microbiome was published in the March issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly. It was such an honor to meet Rob and write about him and his groundbreaking work on the microbiome. Stay tuned for future wearables that might be able to tell you something about all the microorganisms in your body and their relationship to your health!
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The Latest:
Conversations
Welcome to Baltimore! Writers on Writing in Charm City
March 31, 2026
On Wednesday March 4 at Manor Mill, I hosted this panel of writers as an off-site event for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference which was in Baltimore this year. Each writer read from their work, and I asked them questions ranging from, “How do you pick which genre — fiction, essay, […]
Academic Publications
Microbes for the Masses
March 30, 2026
Rob Knight *01 is building the tools to transform health care through microbiome science
Podcasts
David C. Schwartz on the Beginnings of Genomics and What the Future Holds
March 30, 2026
Our guest today is David Schwartz, who is a genomic scientist and emeritus professor of chemistry and genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dave received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1985 and he invented an important method for separating large DNA molecules called pulsed field gel electrophoresis. Dave was a professor at NYU in […]
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What Kind of Conversations?
I talk with scientists and writers, and sometimes with the rare person who is both.
I talk with scientists about how they got involved in their research, what is exciting about it, what was hard about it, what was surprising about it, and what they want a reader to take away when I write about it. I often do this as part of background research for an article I am writing, but sometimes the conversation itself is the product.
I talk with writers about their journey and process as a writer. What inspires them? What moves them? Where do the ideas come from? Which parts of writing are easy and which are hard? I do this mainly at the Manor Mill Prose Nights, and informally whenever I have the chance to talk to a writer.
I am seeking opportunities to have more conversations as the end product, whether as a published interview, a live conversation at an event, or as a video or podcast recording. I love connecting with another person in a one-on-one conversation, and building a connection between that person and an audience.
Contact me to start a conversation →
Image: Susan Keatley talks with Madison Smartt Bell about his novel, The Witch of Matongé, at the first Manor Mill Writers Guild Prose Night.