Jennifer McMahon was born in 1968 and grew up in suburban Connecticut.
She graduated with a B.A. from Goddard College in 1991 and studied poetry in the MFA in Writing program at Vermont College.
After bouncing around the country she went back to Vermont, and over the years worked as a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza-delivery driver, homeless-shelter staff member and consoler.
She quit her job in 2002 and became a full-time writer and wrote her first novel, “Promise Not to Tell,” in 2007.
Her novel, “Island of Lost Girls,” was a New York bestseller and her novel, “Dismantled,” was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.
Gifts presented by Arizona PBS
