Riss M. Neilson is a magna cum laude graduate of Rhode Island College, where she won the English department's Jean Garrigue Award, which was judged by novelist Nick White. Her debut young adult novel, Deep in Providence, was a 2022 finalist for the New England Book Awards, and her forthcoming novel I'm Not Supposed to be in the Dark is set to publish in 2023. She is from Providence and lives for the city's art and culture scene. When she's not writing, she's watching anime or playing video games with her two children. A Love Like the Sun is her adult debut.