Claire R. McDougall was born in Edinburgh, and then raised mainly on the west coast of Scotland. She gained an MA from Edinburgh University and an M.Litt. from Oxford. After an early start as a newspaper columnist, her career in creative writing moved through the genre of poetry before settling on novels. She has five novels with Sibylline Press: Mrs. McPhealy’s American, Song of the Selkie, and The Veil of Time series, Dunadd, Druid Hill, and Iona. Claire holds a black belt in karate and is a fierce supporter of Scottish independence. For the past thirty years, she and her family have made her home in Aspen, Colorado.