Ash Van Otterloo was born and raised in the Appalachian foothills, then made his home for seventeen years as an adult in Eastern Tennessee. Their personal pronouns are he/him or they/them; both work!
They currently reside in the PNW with four wild forest gremlins with a small menagerie of animals. Ash is the author of CATTYWAMPUS, A TOUCH OF RUCKUS, and most recently, a nonbinary coming-of-age story THE BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING ELSE (Scholastic, May '23).
Whether or not he is 5328 bats in a trenchcoat is a topic for gossip among his neighbors. The ones, at least, that the bats haven't carried away! You can learn more about him at ashvanotterloo.com.