Andrea Avery is the author of Sonata: A Memoir of Pain and the Piano (Pegasus Books). Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, Real Simple, The Oxford American, and The Politics of Women's Bodies. She was the winner of Real Simple's second annual Life Lessons Essay Contest and a finalist in Glamour's essay contest. She holds a BA, MFA, and Ed.D from Arizona State University and teaches English in Phoenix. This is her first book. She is at work on a novel.