Ann T. Keene

Writer and editor Ann T. Keene was born in Chicago and values her Midwest upbringing. Her roots, however, lie in the eastern United States: on her mother's side she is descended from the original "Pennsylvania Dutch”—Germans who emigrated via Philadelphia to what is now Berks County in the early 18th century and later settled in Frederick County, Maryland; her father's family were natives of Baltimore.

Keene was educated at Swarthmore College and Indiana University, specializing in American studies; she subsequently lived in New York City, Zurich, Washington DC, and Los Angeles, as well as towns in Connecticut and New Jersey. During this time she worked as a book and magazine editor and also contributed articles to a number of standard reference works, including Twentieth Century British Literature, Twentieth Century American Literature, The Young Oxford History of Women in the United States, and other publications. She was executive editor of the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs (rev. ed., 25 vols) and the Oxford American Children's Encyclopedia (12 vols.) She also taught writing and literature at Indiana University and George Mason University.

Keene’s published books for young adults include Earthkeepers (Oxford University Press, 1993), Willa Cather (Simon & Schuster, 1994), Racism (Steck-Vaughn, 1995), and Peacemakers (Oxford University Press, 1996). She is also the author of a college-level text, A Study Guide to Children's Literature, published by the Independent Study Division, Indiana University. She has been an ongoing contributor to American National Biography (Oxford University Press), both print and online versions, since its inception in the 1990s. Her adult short story collection Another Time, Another Place was published in the spring of 2010; her adult novel Will's Girl will appear in the spring of 2012. She has also written several plays.

In addition to writing and editing, Keene has been a volunteer host and English tutor for international students and visiting scholars for many years. She is a strong supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal welfare groups, and is also a member of the Authors Guild and Mensa. The mother of four grown children, Keene lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with her husband and a family of Boston terriers.