Nicole Bross is an author from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the traditional territory of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta. She lives there with her husband, two children and one very large orange cat. During the day, Nicole is the editor-in-chief of Birthing Magazine. She has 14 years of industry experience with an applied degree in Journalism from Mount Royal College. Nicole’s writing has been featured in many print publications, and she is credited as a writer and researcher for various nonfiction television programs. In her younger years, she started self-publishing a newspaper (circulation: 5) when she was 10 and writing short-story fiction at eight, was chosen as editor for her high school newspaper and copy chief of her college one, and hasn’t looked back since.

Nicole is an advocate for mental health awareness, having lived since childhood with panic disorder and anxiety. A more recent diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has unlocked additional insight into some of the roadblocks she faces in her daily life. Above all, she believes openness and honesty about mental health and illnesses is critical to fighting stigma, and she considers herself proudly neurodiverse.

Nicole writes most often in a small 8’x10’ shed in her backyard, which she transformed into an office/retreat, full of vintage books and bottles, typewriters and snarky artwork. Although it has a fireplace, she does not use it when it’s -30C outside, preferring to decamp to a cafe or the library.

An avid world traveller, Nicole collects passport stamps the way some people collect coffee mugs. Her goal is to visit one new country every year; her best (so far) is six. Her favourite place in the world is her ancestral home of Cornwall, England, although Abaco Island in the Bahamas comes close.

Besides travelling, Nicole enjoys seeking out manual typewriters with interesting typefaces to add to her collection—her crowning glories are a 1920s Mignon 3 with a gothic blackletter font, and a 1920s Torpedo Model 12 with a German keyboard that was used as a prop in the NBC series Lost. She also gardens, cans, smokes, pickles and ferments her own food and reads voraciously. Her favourite book of all time is Jane Eyre.

Learn more at http://www.nicolebross.com.