Rufus + Syd - Hardcover

Robin Lippincott, like the main characters in the novel he and Julia Watts wrote together (Rufus + Syd), grew up in a rural hellhole, Central Florida in his case. The only good thing about his childhood was that at one point he had twenty-three cats, all of which had to live outside (his mother's rules). He escaped Florida as soon as he could and has lived in the Boston area ever since, where he is a walker in the city (and a bicycler, and a subway and bus rider), but where he has no cats (his partner is allergic). Robin is so proud of his most recent book, Blue Territory: A Meditation on the Life and Art of Joan Mitchell. He has also published three novels and a short story collection. He has received multiple fellowships to Yaddo (the artists' colony), as well as a fellowship to The MacDowell Colony. He teaches in the low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program at Spalding University. Facebook: www.facebook.com/robin.lippincott.1

Julia Watts, like her character Syd, is a small-town southeastern Kentucky girl. Unlike Syd, however, Julia grew up with a pair of great, supportive parents who helped her believe in herself even when she felt like she didn't belong. Writing has always been Julia's favorite thing, with reading as a close second, which is which is why she writes and buys books at an alarming rate. She is the author of numerous novels for both young adults and "old adults," including the YA novels Finding H.F., which won the 2002 Lambda Literary Award in the Children's/Young Adult category, and Secret City, which was a 2013 Lambda Literary Award finalist and Golden Crown Literary Award winner. Julia holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University, where she worked with Robin Lippincott, and an MA in English from the University of Louisville. She teaches at South College at in Murray State University's low-residency MFA in Writing program. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her family, four cats, and one spoiled pug.