L.R. Fredericks’ New Jersey childhood was rural and idyllic, if somewhat unconventional. Raised by parents of European background and Bohemian disposition, she was educated at Quaker schools and later earned a degree from the University of Chicago, where she worked interdepartmentally on myth, poetry and shamanism. She frittered away her youth in frivolous pursuits - modelling, acting, performance - before she got serious about art and the nature of reality. Based then in New York, she took up painting and sculpture, which, until she started writing five years ago, was her main occupation. She also began what would be a lifelong study of the esoteric traditions of east and west. Training in transpersonal psychotherapy and Egyptology further expanded her horizons and conceptual vocabulary. She has lived in London for the last 20 years.