MANUEL-PARIS, RAÏNA

Her multicultural and multiracial background and her love of fairy tales led Raïna to read the myths and legends of the world as a child and to attempt to grasp the wisdom of their metaphors as an adult. This love of storytelling guided Raïna from film and screenwriting, with an MFA from Columbia U (her documentary the Bridges of my Father was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009) to a Ph.D. in Mythological studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She taught Mythology, and Magic & Ritual for twenty years at the Art Institute and at the Philosophical Research Society. Several of her lectures are available on her website: www.rainamparis.com or YouTube. She has published poetry (in magazines, online and on NPR), essays for magazines of Jungian thought, and the non-fiction book, the Mother-to-be’s Dream Book, published in the early 2000’s by Warner Books. A lot of her inspiration comes while walking the trails of the Ojai valley in California with her husky mix Numen, or riding her Palomino quarter horse, Quincy. This is her first published novel.