Lyn Fairchild Hawks holds a BA in English and an MA in education from Stanford University. She has taught English, creative writing, and other humanities courses for more than fifteen years in public and independent schools, and she has been an instructor of Duke University Talent Identification Program's e-Studies courses. She also has served as a gifted education resource teacher and a curriculum consultant. Currently, she is Duke TIP's Coordinator of Independent Learning, overseeing development of independent study courses for gifted youth. She has been recognized as a Distinguished Teacher with the Presidential Scholars Program, and she was a 2001 recipient of the All-USA Teacher 3rd Team Award.Hawks is coauthor of The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons that Nurture Wisdom and Empathy and NCTE's Teaching Romeo and Juliet: A Differentiated Approach. Her lessons also are featured in ASCD's Differentiation in Practice: A Resource Guide for Differentiating Curriculum, Grades 9-12. Hawks is also author and coauthor of Duke TIP's The Writer's Journey, Volumes 1 and 2 and Story Writing: Spin Me a Yarn. She is a featured writer on FacultyShack, an online magazine for teachers, and maintains a blog called A Writer's Journey that offers monthly writing prompts for English and creative writing teachers. She also has written her first novel and a short story collection, and her fiction and essays have appeared in Relief journal, Stanford magazine, and at A Room of Her Own Foundation. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband, Greg, her stepson, Henry, and her orange tabby, Sonny.