Courtney Miller Santo is the author of two novels, THE ROOTS OF THE OLIVE TREE and THREE STORY HOUSE, both published by HarperCollins. Translations of these works were published in German, Italian, Hungarian, Korean, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Turkey, and Slovenian. In addition to her novels, her essay, “If/Then” was published in the Best American Essays 2023. Other essays and poetry have appeared in the Los Angeles Review, Swing, The Missouri Review, New Letters, Third Coast and elsewhere. Additionally, her work has been an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semifinalist, won the Memphis Magazine Fiction Contest Grand Prize, been nominated for a Whitney and placed in the Porter Fleming Literary Contest. In 2018 the University of Memphis awarded her the Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Pinch.

When I get nervous, I rapidly repeat the ABCs in my head. I double majored in Journalism and Russian Studies at Washington and Lee University. I’m a native Oregonian, but I’ve spent most of my adult life in the south. My fear of heights is so great that on my honeymoon, I crawled across the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I was duped into writing a bullish article on ValueAmerica while a business reporter at the Charlottesville Daily Progress. The first writer I met was Walt Morey–I remember his house as being in the middle of an orchard, but I don’t see how that could be true. The best hourly wage I made was working in a factory that assembled chain saw blades. I met Rita Dove the night her house burned down. The hardest job I had was answering a hotline that people called when they were first diagnosed with lung cancer. The easiest job I had was teaching people how to play computer games. I used to be Mormon, but I left for the reason everyone leaves. Gallows humor makes me cry. My dog runs faster than me. The last time I tried to speak Russian all I could remember how to say was Я не знаю. Age of Innocence is my favorite book, but I’ve read the Emily of New Moon series at least a dozen times. My children have southern accents, even though they were born in the west. The things I love, other people like ironically.