Lindsey J. Palmer

After a childhood spent devouring every book and magazine I could get my hands on and dreaming up stories that took place along the Oregon Trail, I left the suburbs of Boston to attend the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. As an English major and Benjamin Franklin Honors Scholar, I continued devouring every book and magazine I could get my hands on and dreaming up stories (most of which didn't take place along the Oregon Trail).

Post-college, I shipped out to bucolic Vermont to teach creative writing and Pilates to high school kids at a summer arts camp. There, I picked blueberries, ran across rolling hills, and realized I was not nearly mature enough to be teaching anyone much of anything.

So I moved to Manhattan and broke into magazine publishing, starting at Glamour and then moving on to Redbook and next Self, where I was Features Editor. I worked on stories about relationships and sex, parenting, social activism, career and finances, and well-being; I interviewed the occasional V.I.P. (including Michelle Obama and both Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, a.k.a. Coach and Mrs. Taylor for Friday Night Lights fans); and I gathered material for what would eventually become my debut novel, PRETTY IN INK.

After nearly a decade in publishing, I decided I was finally ready to try my hand at teaching again. So I waved goodbye to magazines and began my Master's of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. I took classes on Shakespeare and adolescent literature, and talked books with teenagers. I then joined the faculty of NEST+m, a Manhattan public high school, as the A.P. Literature and Creative Writing teacher, plus advisor of the literary magazine, the yearbook, and National Honor Society. During my three years of teaching, I aspired to be a slightly more down-to-earth reincarnation of my favorite fictional teacher, Miss Jean Brody.

When I wasn’t grading papers, I was holing up in coffee shops writing fiction. My first novel, PRETTY IN INK, came out in 2014, followed by IF WE LIVED HERE in 2015. After a hiatus to have a baby—hi, Emilia!—I published my third novel, OTHERWISE ENGAGED, in 2019. I spent the pandemic finishing my fourth novel, RESERVATIONS FOR SIX, which was released in 2022.

These days, in addition to plugging away at my next novel, I am the Deputy Editor at BrainPOP, an educational site for kids. I spend my time researching topics as diverse as Emily Dickinson, Mindfulness, Juneteenth, and the Presidential Election, then translating what I've learned into an engaging, narrative format. My scripts get made into short animated films to be shown in classrooms grades 3-10, nationwide and around the world.

After 15 years as a New Yorker, in 2020 I relocated to Cape Cod, MA, along with my husband and daughter.