Mary Jessica Woods was raised and homeschooled in the Chicago suburbs, where she read as many adventure stories as she could get her hands on. At the age of ten, she realized she was doomed to be a writer and has been following the muse ever since. Still seeking adventure, she headed out west to Wyoming Catholic College, where she climbed mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and studied the Great Books.

After graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in the Liberal Arts, she returned to the Midwest to work as an editor. Mary also volunteers as an editorial assistant for the literary magazine Dappled Things, and her nonfiction has appeared in America Magazine, Catholic World Report, and First Things. In her mind, she spends most of her time on distant planets or alien spaceships, but she actually lives in rural Michigan.