Frances Kuffel

I am a native of Missoula, Montana, where I was raised and received my undergraduate degrees from the University of Montana. Sometime in the mists of the 1980's I earned an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University and moved to New York City in order to go to the ballet more often.

My parents suggested this habit would be better supported by getting a job and so, reluctantly, I cast around for something to do. My typing was just hunt-and-peck enough to become an assistant in a literary agency where I stayed for 13 years. To my parents' relief (albeit confusion: try explaining this job to their golf cronies in Polson, Montana), I became a literary agent, specializing in children's books, literary fiction and literary nonfiction.

As an agent, I sold well over a hundred books, notably among them Lee Charles Kelley's Jack Field mystery series (Avon, 2003), Cynthia Gralla's The Floating World (Ballantine, 2003), Peter Stark's Last Breath (Ballantine, 2002), and others.

And now I walk dogs -- mostly Labradors -- and write books.

My short fiction and poetry have been published in Tri-Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, The Georgia Review, Glimmertrain, The Greensboro Review and Columbia Review. I've also published articles in The San Diego Reader, Psychology Today and Self.

I try but fail to be a presence via posts at brooklynheightsblog.com ("Confessions of a Lab Lady") and psychologytoday.com ("What Fat Women Want: Getting to Be Thin Is Only Part of the Story").