August is a former Fulbright Scholar to Istanbul. She's studied Turkey for over a decade. She grew up in rural New England with her mother (also a writer) and -- for a while -- 180,000 bees. She's won national awards for her writing, and has degrees from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, the University of Edinburgh, and UMass-Amherst. Liar's Candle is her first novel.