Shelley Kirilenko was born in Missoula, Montana in 1961. An early love of literature and foreign languages propelled her into the study of German literature. She earned both a B.A. (’83) and an M.A. (’88) in German from the University of Montana. While in Vienna on a Fulbright she discovered fin de siecle Austrian literature and wrote her dissertation on Jewish-Viennese playwright Arthur Schnitzler. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.
Shelley's true passion is for writing fiction, though she has also written a non-fiction work and some screenplays. Her short stories have been published in The Iconoclast, Short Stories Bimonthly, and Sunflower Dream. One of her screenplays (Light and Dark) has been independently produced, and The Blue Kimono, a memoir on infertility, came out in November 2007. She completed her first mystery novel, A.B.D. in December 2008 and her short story collection, Evening in Missoula was published in July 2009. She has appeared on ABC, NBC and CW, and has been profiled in the Montgomery Gazette. She’s currently working on a sequel to A.B.D., with the working title The Meeting, as well as a non-fiction book on Jewish holidays entitled A Gentile Celebrates Judaism.
Shelley lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband Andrei and her nine-year-old son Luke. She's an avid reader, traveler, and ballroom dance teacher.
Shelley's true passion is for writing fiction, though she has also written a non-fiction work and some screenplays. Her short stories have been published in The Iconoclast, Short Stories Bimonthly, and Sunflower Dream. One of her screenplays (Light and Dark) has been independently produced, and The Blue Kimono, a memoir on infertility, came out in November 2007. She completed her first mystery novel, A.B.D. in December 2008 and her short story collection, Evening in Missoula was published in July 2009. She has appeared on ABC, NBC and CW, and has been profiled in the Montgomery Gazette. She’s currently working on a sequel to A.B.D., with the working title The Meeting, as well as a non-fiction book on Jewish holidays entitled A Gentile Celebrates Judaism.
Shelley lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband Andrei and her nine-year-old son Luke. She's an avid reader, traveler, and ballroom dance teacher.
