Patti Sherry-Crews lives in Evanston, Illinois, a town she is proud to say both sides of her family have lived in for generations. Her first novel, Smoke Damage, is a memoir, which is in part about the experience of raising children in the same town she grew up in in a post 9/11 world.
Patti has a BA in anthropology from Grinnell College. A junior year spent at the University of North Wales studying archaeology was a pivotal year for her as she fell in love with the British Isles. After graduating from college she opened an Irish and British Import store for the main purpose of giving her an excuse to go back across the pond. After 15 years she closed the door on that shop when she and her husband decided to increase their family from four to five.
Since getting out of retail, Patti has gone back to her day job of caning and rushing chairs, a craft she learned from her mother. She reserves the afternoons for writing.