Nancy Dickens

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri where my love of horses began with seeing Clydesdales at public events and mules at county fairs. My neighborhood friends were all horse crazy and we rode at a community riding stable. We also loved spending time at the local library where we immersed ourselves in books by Marguerite Henry, Walter Farley, and Wesley Dennis. When I was 14 years old my family moved to the Jackson, Mississippi metro area where I have lived ever since. I have worked as a certified veterinary technician, a teacher of middle and high school children with learning issues, and I am currently a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice specializing in working with children, adolescents, and adults experiencing grief, trauma, anxiety, and/or depression. I have been married for 40 years to my husband Bill, and have two grown sons, Mitch and Nate. We currently have 2 rescued dogs, 2 granddogs, 1 precocious cat, and 3 beautiful horses. We are lucky enough to live on acreage and enjoy spending time outdoors with our animals.

Reading and writing have always given me great joy, and I especially love creating personalities for animal characters. Sharing my love of learning is important to me and led me to write "Twinkie- A Grand Canyon Mule" and "Twinkie and Hopi- A Grand Canyon Adventure". These were followed by "Twinkie and Hopi Save Christmas at the Grand Canyon" and "Toby- A Painted Desert Pony". I recently finished my first self-illustrated book "Run Mississippi Run" which is about my two Off the Track Thoroughbreds Lil' Nancy and Go Starbuster in their racing days at Fairgrounds Racecourse in New Orleans. This book is illustrated using my personal photographs of my horses which have been enhanced using a watercolor effect. I was so pleased with the outcome that I decided to re-release the other books with illustrations in the same format, my photos with a watercolor effect. All of these are now available online.I hope my readers enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed writing and illustrating them.