Lynn McIntyre hopes to inspire curiosity—and maybe a few good questions—with her debut novel, What We Are.

Taking Gail Godwin’s observation that “Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre” to heart, she spent years teaching junior high English, learning the art of capturing an adolescent’s attention—and occasionally, holding it.  She brings those lessons in storytelling and engagement to her fiction.

When she’s not writing, she’s reading, cheering from the sidelines, or having a glass on a patio. Her sourdough obsession may be fleeting; its status was unclear at press time.

McIntyre lives in Wisconsin with her husband, their three brilliant and tricky teenagers, and two perfect dogs.