I’m equal parts sarcasm and sunshine – and it’s lovely to meet you.
Books teach us how to live. They give us trial runs for big emotions, escape from the mundane, and love stories that defy the ages.
Perhaps most important in this age of social media where people become personal brands, books remind us that real people are complex. They are flawed and complicated and sometimes completely contradictory and still absolutely beautiful. Even heroes are vulnerable. Even the beautiful feel self-conscious. Villains might have justification and heroes might be morally gray. Characters don’t have to fit into a box. Neither do people. That belief centers everything I write.
I write character-driven speculative fiction exploring power, identity, and the moral cost of survival. My work blends high-stakes tension with emotional depth, often centering on characters forced to navigate impossible choices inside broken systems.
I decided quite early that some things were just too awesome for the real world. I’ve lived my entire life with one foot in reality and one in the clouds. Stories are how I interpret this big beautiful world and the people and emotions living within it.
Growing up in a small town in Minnesota, I spent most of my early days either in a lake, on a tennis or basketball court, or with my nose in a book.
Once I was out on my own, I vowed to explore this great big world and have left my footprints on six continents. Through graduate school and beyond, I’ve climbed mountains and jumped off them, splashed in three oceans (and dipped a toe in the other one) and have given literally thousands of hugs around the globe. I’m absolutely captivated by the landscapes and cultures of this world. (And the food. I think I’ve eaten some variation of gelato or ice cream in fifty countries. Priorities.)
After living and working abroad, my husband and I settled back in trusty ole Minnesota to raise our family of adventurous bookworms. My five sweet boys are the first to suggest a new country to explore together and are my most honest literary critique group. I love them beyond measure – even when they shift their “constructive criticism” to my dance moves or wardrobe choices.
I’ve had a winding career as a journalist, award-winning documentary film writer, and even a neuroscience research engineer studying the unique way literature affects our brains and identifying ways to use books to teach difficult skills like empathy, curiosity, tenacity and other important habits of mind – all looking for practical and responsible ways to quench my thirst for stories. But a tiger can’t change its stripes, so I followed my heart back to fiction, where I was meant to be all along.
“Stories are Imagination Set Free.”
Cortney Dirks 