Carissa Turpin was born and raised in Appalachia where she listened to her relatives weave fanciful (and sometimes scary) tales. She currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky where she teaches fifth and seventh grade language arts. Her first book, Doomsday Dani, won gold in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in 2023. Her second book, a classroom-friendly cryptid short story collection titled A Mess of Monsters, was released in September 2026