I’m a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction, living in Manhattan. My writing has been published in magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Tricycle, Vice, Pollstar, Condé Nast Traveler, and many others. I’ve been selected for a number of awards and fellowships, including a Pushcart Prize nomination, First Prize in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open, a Hemera Foundation artist fellowship, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Djerassi Artist residency, a Vermont Studio Center residency, and others. (see Manuscript Support here)
Books
I was the editor of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s internationally bestselling books What Makes You Not a Buddhist and The Guru Drinks Bourbon, as well as his episodic, autobiographical memoir Mugwort Born. I edited Garchen Rinpoche’s memoir, which will be released in 2027. I was commissioned to write several books about art and fashion including Art Into Action, The Missing Piece, Off the Beaten Path, and to Vogue Beauty (Condé Nast). My essay about Bodhgaya was selected by Philip Zaleski for The Best Spiritual Writing 2012, published by Penguin. I also contributed chapters to Forms of Awakening: Tibetan Art from the Jack Shear Collection (DelMonico Books, 2025) and Global Perspectives on Spirituality in Education (Routledge, 2013). My notes and essays on the making of the film Travellers + Magicians were published as a book in 2004. My children’s book, How Do You Know What You Know (Penguin Random House), came out in 2023. I’ve written two novels that are on a hard drive somewhere.
Education Initiatives
From 2010-2013, I lived in the Kingdom of Bhutan while developing literacy and education alternatives in association with the Ministry of Education, the Royal Education Council, monasteries, and a number of NGOs. I went on to lead the establishment of Middle Way Education and the Middle Way School of the Hudson Valley in Upstate New York in 2017, where I worked closely with educators and dharma advisors on the development of a dharma curriculum for modern education environments. I’ve coached writers young and old, individually and in group settings, and have guided high school students in their essay writing. I continue to provide advisory services to people and institutions interested in introducing Buddhism and awareness practices to children in creative, age-appropriate ways, and am currently developing dharma-infused media content for children through my initiative Bala Yana.
Degrees
I learned my love of language at Santa Fe Prep School in Mrs. White’s Latin and Language Arts classes. I graduated middle school with a satin star commemorating my abilities in alegbra. I have a journalism degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a minor in arts management, an MFA in creative writing from Hunter College (CUNY), where I also taught creative writing, and an MSEd from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
