Raised in Upstate New York, ANNA BURKE graduated from Smith College in 2012 with a B. A. in English Literature and Studio Art. She holds a certificate from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and was the inaugural recipient of the Sandra Moran Scholarship for the Golden Crown Literary Society's Writing Academy. Since graduation, she has lived all along the Eastern seaboard, but wrote her debut novel, the high seas adventure Compass Rose (2018), while living on a small island in the West Indies.