Josan Janis Cooke Newman is the author of the LA Times Book Prize Finalist and USA Today’s Historical Novel of the Year, Mary; Mrs. A. Lincoln, as well as the SF Chronicle Best Book of 2015, A Master Plan for Rescue. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, The Russian Word for Snow. In addition to teaching creative writing for the past two decades, she has taught writing and mindfulness workshops at Esalen, Book Passage in Corte Madera, and SF Zen Center. For the past five years, she has practiced and volunteered at San Francisco Zen Center, and received the precepts in April 2019.