When she was three years old, Erin Van Rheenen's parents moved the family from Portland, Oregon, to Lagos, Nigeria. This two-year stint would be the first of Erin's many extended stays outside of her home country. Since then she has lived in Oaxaca (Mexico), Guatemala, Ireland, Quito (Ecuador), and Costa Rica.

Erin earned a B.A. in Latin American Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Fiction Writing and English Literature from the City University of New York, and a certificate of advanced Spanish proficiency from Universidad Catolica in Quito. She has published essays and stories in venues such as Fiction, The Sun and the Los Angeles Times, and her novel, The Gospel of Gone, won the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society prize for best new novel. She has taught writing at City College of New York and in the San Francisco County Jail. Currently she spends much of her time in San Francisco and Costa Rica.

Some of Erin's Costa Rica-related articles available online:

The Amazing Race Visits Costa Rica

Costa Rica Can Still Surprise

E-mail to Erin Van Rheenen