Bradford C. Philen grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. After earning a double major � B.A. in English and Spanish � at Virginia Tech in 2002, Brad served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Okamukwa, Namibia. In 2007 he earned his M.S. Ed. in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Lehman College in the Bronx while teaching at the Marie Curie School for Medicine, Nursing, and Health Professions. Brad now makes his home with his wife Jasmeen in Dakar, Senegal, where he moved in the summer of 2008. While teaching high school English at the International School of Dakar, he is currently working on his second novel.