Gina Hyams is an author and editor who specializes in mysterious and confounding subjects, such as pie, nannies, extraterrestrial encounters, the history of incense, folk art, facials, pink palapas, death, and picnics.Gina's books include the bestselling travel-design titles In a Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms and Mexicasa: The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico, as well as Pacific Spas: Luxury Getaways on the West Coast, Day of the Dead Box, Incense: Rituals, Mystery, Lore (all published by Chronicle Books), and the soon-to-be-released gift book The Tanglewood Picnic: Music and Outdoor Feasts in the Berkshires (Muddy Puppy Media).Books that she's edited include Country Living Decorating with White (Hearst and German edition by Busse Collection) and The Campfire Collection: Thrilling, Chilling Tales of Alien Encounters (Chronicle Books). She co-edited with Susan Davis the anthology Searching for Mary Poppins: Women Write About the Relationship Between Mothers and Nannies (Hudson Street Press and Plume, divisions of Penguin U.S.A.), which won a NAPPA Honors Award (National Parenting Publications Awards for Parenting Resources).She is also the creator of the "In a Box" series of culinary contest book-kits published by Andrews McMeel Publishing that includes Pie Contest in a Box: Everything You Need to Host a Pie Contest, Chili Cook-Off in a Box: Everything You Need to Host a Chili Cook-Off, and Christmas Cookie Contest in a Box: Everything You Need to Host a Christmas Cookie Contest.Gina was a contributing editor to Berkshire Living. Her essays and articles have also appeared in Huffington Post, Newsweek, San Francisco, Organic Style, Ideal Destinations, Healing Lifestyles & Spas, and Salon. She has contributed to Fodor's Travel Publications, National Public Radio, and several anthologies. Mashable named Gina on its Nonfiction Tweets: 70+ Authors to Follow on Twitter list.Raised in San Francisco, she now lives in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with her husband, Dave Barrett. They are the proud parents of the force of nature that is Annalena and of a sweet, silly, spoiled English Springer Spaniel named Goose.For more info, see www.ginahyams.com.