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Susan Austin, author and educator, lives in Berkeley, California, the setting for The Bamboo Garden. Writing has always been a part of her life, first as an educator, then as a personal historian and now as a children’s writer. With a Ph.D. in social studies and multicultural education, Susan is drawn to the challenge of writing historical fiction, the ideal genre for exploring important themes: multicultural awareness, respect for diversity, and social justice.
Growing up in Los Angeles, California, Susan lived near a wise and passionate poet who first helped her explore these ideas. Ruth Le Prade lived a few doors away and would invite Susan and other neighborhood children to her home to listen to poetry about beauty and compassion. Each visit ended with a romp in her magical garden of exotic trees and flowering bushes planted by poets visiting from distant lands. In the far corner of her garden grew a towering grove of bamboo—Susan’s favorite place to play and dream.
Susan’s best writing ideas appear as she gathers weeds from her garden or lemons from her tree. Currently, she is putting the finishing touches on her latest book set in Capitola, California (1924) entitled Just the Ticket: A Summer Adventure-by-the-Sea.

Susan Austin, author and educator, lives in Berkeley, California, the setting for The Bamboo Garden. Writing has always been a part of her life, first as an educator, then as a personal historian and now as a children’s writer. With a Ph.D. in social studies and multicultural education, Susan is drawn to the challenge of writing historical fiction, the ideal genre for exploring important themes... More