Julie Boutwell-Peterson is a PhD candidate in creative writing at the University of South Dakota. She has taught English Literature, Creative Writing, and Composition in South Dakota, Georgia, and Alabama for more than 10 years. A former journalist, Julie has also lived and worked in England, France, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, and Senegal. She is currently working on a children's fantasy novel as well as a collection of creative nonfiction essays that blend cultural critique, literary criticism, memoir, and popular science.