NEL RAND was born a stone's throw from the Mississippi River, in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in southern Illinois and Kentucky. She recently moved from a remote cabin in the woods to the small community of Cornelius, Oregon. Her first novel, Mississippi Flyway, was an award-winning finalist in the 2007 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. She is working on a collection of short stories and a mystery that goes back to her southern roots.