My published work ranges from historical biography, translations and poetry to reviews of music, art, books and film. I am also a classically trained pianist. My greatest influence has been over two decades of friendship with the playwright William Luce, whose works (The Belle of Amherst, among others) have guided and inspired me as a biographer and as a lover of beautiful language.

• My biography of Princess Der Ling was published in January 2008 by Hong Kong University Press (see link below)
  
• In April 2007, my biography of American stage and screen comedienne Charlotte Greenwood was published by McFarland & Company (see link below)
  

My biographical work focuses on the lives of extraordinary women - women from a variety of backgrounds whose strength, talent and vision make their experiences inspiring and universal.

I am the author of the first biography of the American musical comedy star, Charlotte Greenwood [1890-1977]. Based on exclusive access to Charlotte's unpublished memoirs, letters, and memorabilia, this book, titled Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film, was published by McFarland & Company in May 2007. For more about this book see link below.

I have also completed the first biography of Manchu-American author, feminist and personality, Princess Der Ling (Mrs. Elizabeth Antoinette White). This book, titled Imperial Masquerade: The Legend of Princess Der Ling, was published by Hong Kong University Press in January 2008. Please see link below.

My biography of actress Billie Burke, provisionally titled Follow The Yellow Brick Road: A Life of Billie Burke, is scheduled for publication in 2009 by McFarland & Company. Russian Odyssey: The Epic Journey of Olga Ilyin, is an authorized biography of Russian émigré poet and memoirist, Olga Ilyin [1894-1991], who was a great-granddaughter of revered Russian poet Evgeny Baratynsky and a powerful and unjustly neglected writer herself.

My current book project traces the friendship of American diplomat's wife, Sarah Pike Conger, and the Empress Dowager Cixi of China, before, during and after one of the greatest clashes between East and West, the 1900 Boxer Uprising.

Among recent anthologies to which I have contributed is a biographical study of the daughters of Russia's Romanov tsars, The Grand Duchesses: Daughters and Granddaughters of Russia's Tsars, published by Arturo Beeche of the European Royal History Journal in August 2004. A companion volume, detailing lives of the Romanov grand dukes, is forthcoming in May 2007.

As a journalist I have covered music classical, world and experimental; visual art; film, books and theatre; and gay and lesbian issues for such newspapers and magazines as The Portland Oregonian, Willamette Week (Portland, Oregon), the Eugene Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon), Just Out (Portland, Oregon), Opera News (New York), BIBLIO, The European Royal History Journal (San Francisco), the Peninsula News Review (Sidney, BC) and Galleries West (Calgary, AB and Vancouver, BC).

I have worked extensively with playwright William Luce, providing original verse for his musico-biography The Divine Orlando (based on the life of the 16th century composer Orlando di Lasso), produced off Broadway in 1988; translations of German poetry for his 1991 Broadway play, Lucifer's Child, written for and performed by actress Julie Harris; and translations of Rimbaud for his play Nijinsky, which premiered in Tokyo in January 2000.

Charlotte Greenwood biography
McFarland & Company's catalog listing for "Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film"

Charlotte Greenwood Web site

Princess Der Ling Web site
Princess Der Ling [1885-1944], Manchu author and figure of controversy throughout her life for her oscillations between the cultures of East and West, best known for Two Years in The Forbidden City, her memoir of service as lady-in-waiting and translator at the court of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

Billie Burke web site
Born in Washington D.C. in 1885, a star of the stages of Edwardian London and New York, Billie Burke met her match in husband Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. - and through him, found a whole new career when her days as a stage beauty became numbered.