Susan Jane Gilman is a native New Yorker who has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and the Village Voice. She has written two books, Kiss My Tiara and the New York Times’ Bestseller Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, a hilarious account of her childhood trials and tribulations. She is currently deep in the writing of her third book on backpacking through China and “getting into a whole lot of trouble.” She says it will be good beach reading “for when global warming takes over.” She lives in Geneva with her husband.

(Photo: Francois Bourru)