Debra Dean

Professor Dean is the bestselling author of four critically acclaimed books that have been published in 21 languages. Her debut, The Madonnas of Leningrad, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a #1 Booksense Pick, a Booklist Top Ten Novel, and an American Library Association Notable Book of the Year. Her newest book, published by Northwestern University Press, is the biography Hidden Tapestry: Jan Yoors, His Two Wives, and the War That Made Them One.

Teaching Philosophy

"Writing fiction is like most other skills, whether it's shooting hoops or playing an instrument: you get better at it by doing it, again and again. The reward for continuing to show up is that each time is different. It never gets old."