Mermer Blakeslee is an author, teacher, skier, and gardener. She has been awarded three New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Fellowships, and her second novel, In Dark Water, was selected by Barnes & Noble for its Discover Great New Writers series. ""Leenie,"" an excerpt from When You Live by a River, won the Narrative Prize. Blakeslee's nonfiction book, A Conversation with Fear, is based on her work with fearful skiers. A former member of the National Alpine Team for the Professional Ski Instructors of America, Blakeslee was born, raised, and still lives in the Catskill Mountains.