A native New Englander, independent bookstore enthusiast, and poet who is passionate about all things crustacean, Kristin is thrilled to be doing a reading and book signing at Blacksburg Books.

In this luminous first collection, How to Hypnotize a Lobster, published by Atmosphere Press, Kristin presents a heart-breaking and at times funny interpretation of human existence in poems with a wholly unique voice. She uses Robert Lowell's Life Studies as a blueprint for the architecture of this book and intersperses poetry and prose throughout while dealing with questions of family mythology. Kristin explores identity, birth, aging, death, and addiction against a back-drop of Greek myths interwoven with a family saga. Whether meditating on a painting of Matisse, a spoon, or the role of collected family trauma, she brings each subject into an unexpected and expanded existence.

Kristin attended Stanford University and received a B.A. in English Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing and minor in Biological Sciences. Kristin received her M.F.A. in Fiction and Poetry from Fairfield University. She has experience in freelance and photo journalism, travel writing, and science writing. She taught English Literature and Communications at Fairfield University for 4 years, and is now the Director of Communications and Creative Services at the Fralin Life Sciences Institute at Virginia Tech. Kristin has published her poems and creative non-fiction in Poems in the Waiting Room, Spry Literary Magazine, the I’m Possible Project, and the Elephant Journal. 

Kristin lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her husband, and their dog, Fee, and poorly behaved puppy, Fred.