SHORT BIO
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Rachel M. Wilson studied theater at Northwestern University and received her MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from Alabama, Rachel currently writes, acts, and teaches in Chicago, IL. Don't Touch is her first novel. |
LONG BIO
This version's no less true, but is heftier, sillier, and illustrated . . .
Photos by Evan Hanover
Rachel is the child of two beautiful hippies. She spent the first two years of her life on a farm near Montgomery, AL, before moving to Birmingham.
Her dad is a music-lover and an environmentalist, who worked in air pollution control before retirement, and her mom is a fierce tennis player, an amateur nutritionist, and the practical voice of reason in Rachel's head.
Rachel also has a younger sister, Laura, who taught her how to share, and who has great taste in fashion, film, and most other cool things.
Her dad is a music-lover and an environmentalist, who worked in air pollution control before retirement, and her mom is a fierce tennis player, an amateur nutritionist, and the practical voice of reason in Rachel's head.
Rachel also has a younger sister, Laura, who taught her how to share, and who has great taste in fashion, film, and most other cool things.
Rachel was an adorable child.
It's just a fact.
She loved reading and drawing, superheroes and Star Wars. She also loved hanging out with adults and didn't always understand other people her age. Luckily, she's gotten better at that.
Around age 10, Rachel started dealing with OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, which made life difficult for the next four years. She spent a lot of high school dealing with the fallout from that, and that experience inspired Don't Touch.
It's just a fact.
She loved reading and drawing, superheroes and Star Wars. She also loved hanging out with adults and didn't always understand other people her age. Luckily, she's gotten better at that.
Around age 10, Rachel started dealing with OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, which made life difficult for the next four years. She spent a lot of high school dealing with the fallout from that, and that experience inspired Don't Touch.
In fifth grade, Rachel acted in a production at Birmingham Children's Theater, and she was hooked. She acted in every production that would have her and went on to study theater at Northwestern.
These days, Rachel acts and teaches with a company called Barrel of Monkeys. They teach writing workshops in Chicago Public Schools and adapt the writing of elementary school students for the stage. Rachel's favorite Monkey roles include a put-upon child from Knowwhere, a lovelorn vampiress, and a homicidal church bell named Ring Ring.
That's her in the middle, singing about the power of children's imaginations, probably.
These days, Rachel acts and teaches with a company called Barrel of Monkeys. They teach writing workshops in Chicago Public Schools and adapt the writing of elementary school students for the stage. Rachel's favorite Monkey roles include a put-upon child from Knowwhere, a lovelorn vampiress, and a homicidal church bell named Ring Ring.
That's her in the middle, singing about the power of children's imaginations, probably.
Rachel left Chicago for a couple of years for an ill-advised stint in LA. Way. Too. Sunny.
But while there, she took her first writing classes at UCLA Extension--several in screenwriting and one in writing the young adult novel. Rachel had been writing in private for years, but taking these classes led Rachel to go public as a writer.
She applied to the MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults, and two years of visiting that magical writers' dreamland changed everything. For one thing, Rachel learned how to revise, a mystery that had somehow eluded her. Who knew that writers don't come up with publishable work in singe drafts?
Rachel's class, the Super Secret Society of Quirk & Quill, stays in touch over email and at annual retreats.
But while there, she took her first writing classes at UCLA Extension--several in screenwriting and one in writing the young adult novel. Rachel had been writing in private for years, but taking these classes led Rachel to go public as a writer.
She applied to the MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults, and two years of visiting that magical writers' dreamland changed everything. For one thing, Rachel learned how to revise, a mystery that had somehow eluded her. Who knew that writers don't come up with publishable work in singe drafts?
Rachel's class, the Super Secret Society of Quirk & Quill, stays in touch over email and at annual retreats.
Rachel is a firm believer in being and doing more than one thing.
When Rachel isn't writing, teaching, or performing, she works in medical education, pretending to be sick to help med students learn. Sometimes she gets to do fake surgery or give CPR to mannequins like the beleaguered one in this picture. Sometimes she gets to press the buttons that make the mannequins have heart attacks.
A few of Rachel's favorite things include: German or Euro-style board games, video games, knitting, camping, hiking, cooking vegetarian delights, reading at the beach, binge-watching the Olympics, superheroism, smart serial TV, not-so-smart reality TV, horror movies, spooky stories, and hanging out with her dog, Remy Frankenstein.
When Rachel isn't writing, teaching, or performing, she works in medical education, pretending to be sick to help med students learn. Sometimes she gets to do fake surgery or give CPR to mannequins like the beleaguered one in this picture. Sometimes she gets to press the buttons that make the mannequins have heart attacks.
A few of Rachel's favorite things include: German or Euro-style board games, video games, knitting, camping, hiking, cooking vegetarian delights, reading at the beach, binge-watching the Olympics, superheroism, smart serial TV, not-so-smart reality TV, horror movies, spooky stories, and hanging out with her dog, Remy Frankenstein.
Whatever else she might be, Rachel is a dog person. That seems important.
If you've read this far, you're probably tired. Remy wonders why you don't go have a cookie? And will you get one for him?
If you've read this far, you're probably tired. Remy wonders why you don't go have a cookie? And will you get one for him?
