Christa Conklin studied dance (from ballet to flamenco), music (from classical saxophone to electric bass), and foreign language from grade school through and beyond university. Providing private and small group instrumental music and foreign language instruction while in college led to her to prefer teaching outside of a classroom, and was part of the inspiration to homeschool her own children.
Between university and motherhood, she worked for the New York Philharmonic and Young Audiences New Jersey to bring professional artists together with students and teachers, often joining them in theaters and studios to experience the arts as creators and audience members. She believes learning and artistic creativity must never be separated if both are to flourish. Others may say she’s living in a fantasy world, which brings us to a more recent endeavor.
Christa grew up reading and re-reading Tolkien, L’Engle, and Lewis. She was an avid reader even in grade school, and remembers returning from the library with multiple books, lining them up on the couch, reading a chapter from each, and repeating the sequence until she’d reached the conclusion of each novel.
As for those fantasy series, after losing count of how many times she’d read them, she took out the typewriter, opened The Hobbit, and began typing, allowing her to experience the words in a whole new way.
This seems like the perfect time to mention she is an only child.
Christa now types her own fantastical imaginings on a laptop.
She received her Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Performance (majoring in saxophone) and Communication from Rutgers College and her Master’s Degree from Monmouth University. She studied in France, and once took first place in a solo women’s kayak river race.
Christa Conklin is represented by Jessica Schmeidler, Golden Wheat Literary.