Erika Reich Giles

Erika Reich Giles spent her social work career helping children move out of the foster care system by facilitating their return to their birth parents or placing them for adoption. She began writing essays and memoir after she remembered a traumatic incident from her childhood, not unlike those experienced by some of her clients. Her work gave her an understanding of family dynamics and the effects of trauma that helped her unravel her own past for this book.

Her essays have been published in The Seattle Times, Crab Orchard Review, Clackamas Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Ascent, Under the Sun, Clockhouse Review, Tahoma Literary Review, and in two anthologies.

Because of her own refugee background, Erika is passionate about helping immigrants and refugees learn English. She has led conversation groups for English learners for more than a decade, believing that the more people connect with the language of the country they live in, the more likely they will be to acclimate and achieve their full potential there.

Seattle-area residents for more than forty years, she and her husband now live in Portland, Oregon.