Ms. Hempel Chronicles (Bynum)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Houston, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., Brown University; M.F.A., University of
   Iowa
• Awards—Finalist, National Book Award (2004)
• Currently—Brooklyn, New York, New York

Madeline is Sleeping is Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's first novel. Her short fiction has appeared in the Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Best American Short Stories of 2004. A graduate of Brown University and the Iowa Writers Workshop, she lives in Brooklyn, New York. (From the publisher.)

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From a 2004 interview with Barnes & Noble:

• I adore sushi (which I didn't discover, weirdly enough, until I was living in Iowa), but right now I'm on a strict sushi hiatus as I wait for the arrival of my first baby in the spring.

• I didn't see a single scary movie until I was twenty years old, but now I can't get enough of them! My favorites are The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, The Ring, and anything with zombies.

• When asked what book most influenced her career as a writer, here is her response:

Jane Eyre. When I first read it in the eighth grade, I remember being struck by two things: the extreme attractiveness of Mr. Rochester, and my sudden, acute awareness of Charlotte Brontë as the book's author. Up to this point, I don't remember giving much thought to the writers of books I liked—I was far more interested in the plots and the characters—the authors themselves seemed, for the most part, like appendages. Maybe it's because the edition I read of Jane Eyre had that lovely pencil drawing of Charlotte Brontë on its cover, or because her name was displayed in the exact same font and size as the title. In fact, her name appeared above the title, which explains why my younger brother believed for years that "Charlotte Brontë" was the famous novel written by Jane Eyre.

I'd like to believe that my growing awareness of an authorial presence was due to my budding sophistication as a reader—and certainly there was a new sort of intensity and urgency I felt in this book that might have suggested the workings of a very specific sensibility and imagination—but I'm afraid I would be giving my eighth-grade self too much credit. Either way, I remember Jane Eyre as the moment I became curious about the person behind the book, a curiosity which eventually led, I think, to my first serious thoughts about what it meant to be a writer, to become a writer. Charlotte Brontë continues to exercise her hold over me, as does her sister Emily—now, in addition to rereading Jane Eyre, I find myself returning to Anne Carson's The Glass Essay and Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, both of which cast their own spells.

(Author bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)