T. J. Banks is the author of A TIME FOR SHADOWS, CATSONG (winner of the 2007 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award), DERV & CO., HOUDINI, & SOULEIADO. A Contributing Editor to LAJOIE, she has also worked as a stringer for the Associated Press and an instructor for the Writer's Digest School. She has received awards for her fiction & non-fiction from BYLINE, the Cat Writers' Association, & THE WRITING SELF. Her latest book, SKETCH PEOPLE: STORIES ALONG THE WAY, is based on her blog of the same name. Both the book and the blog feature "conversations" or interviews with people who have stories worth telling -- http://www.tjbanks927.blogspot.com.