Livia Blackburne

I teach writing workshops for children and adults in my capacity as a working author. Before that, I was an academic neuroscientist and served as a teaching assistant for several undergraduate psychology classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I try for a lot of interaction in my lectures. I like to ask questions and guide students to the answer rather than present it outright. I'm also a fan of writing exercises, games, and learning-by-doing approaches.

New York Times Bestseller Author Angus MacDonald Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

A.B. Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University (2004) Ph.D. Cognitive Neuroscience from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2012)

I've taken a roundabout path to figuring out what I wanted to do. After a childhood spent reading and writing stories, I put away my bookish tendencies to study science, with the goal of teaching at a liberal arts college. In graduate school, I started a novel on a whim, and it turned out much better than my dissertation! So now I write YA fantasy full time. Thankfully, I still have plenty of opportunities to teach, even if it's not in my original subject area.