RUTH P. WATSON is the author of Blackberry Days of Summer: A Novel; An Elderberry Fall; Cranberry Winter: A Novel; and Strawberry Spring. A musical stage play, Blackberry Daze, is based on her debut novel. She is the recipient of the Caversham Fellowship, an artist and writer residency in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where she published Our Secret Bond, her first children’s book, in Zulu. She is a freelance writer and member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and has written for Upscale, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and other publications. She is an adjunct professor and project manager and lives with her family in Atlanta.