The Power is in Your Pulse

Spent most of her childhood in the industrial Ohio River town of New Albany, Indiana. The daughter of more than two hundred years of Kentucky Appalachian farmers, she moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1978. She has been a migrant farm laborer, a waitress, a bean sorter in a cannery, a cosmetics saleswoman, a federal officer, a nurse, and a university writing instructor. Her essays, short fiction, and poetry have appeared in Gargoyle, Ascent, and The Raven Chronicles, among others. Books include the novels Jagged Edge of the Sky, Dove Creek, Summer of Government Cheese, the Blue Moon health and wellness series, and two poetry collections, Nurses Who Love English and Devil at the Crossroads. Ms. Coomer was nominated for the Pulitzer, the Pushcart, and other awards. Her newest book, a collection of short fiction, Somebody Should Have Scolded the Girl, is a BuzzFeed-recommended title. She lives in eastern Washington State, where she teaches and promotes writing in the community.