Julie Brown has been a professor of writing and literature for over 20 years. Her first two books of literary criticism, American Women Short Story Writers and Ethnicity and The American Short Story, explore the works of culturally marginalized writers. Her current research project investigates the link between autism and creative writing. Julie's son has Asperger's Syndrome and she is involved as a volunteer in the autistic community. Julie serves as an academic advisor for autistic individuals at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon and she also teaches a course she developed on autism in literature. She lives in Astoria.