Lisa Rainwater is a freelance writer and translator who divides her time between New York and Florida. Her writings have appeared in national and international magazines, journals and books. She recently completed her first historical novel (book one of a trilogy) that explores the turbulent relationships between red, black and white people in America’s 1800s. Prior to writing full-time, she served as campaign and policy director for a New York environmental group, where she developed media and community strategies and environmental policy initiatives. In her free time, Lisa enjoys cooking elaborate meals for friends and family and runs competitively to ward off the evils of too much butter. When she’s not writing, cooking or running, there’s usually a dog -- or two -- and a book in her lap. Lisa blogs about art, politics and her struggles with smoking at Why I Love Smoking…and Need to Stop: A Writer’s Take on the World, One Cigarette at a Time. She holds a doctorate in German Studies from the University of Wisconsin and was a Research Fellow at Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universität in Bonn, Germany.