Storyteller. Teacher. Book curator.
Stories have always been the way I make sense of the world.
My grandmother was a librarian, and she passed down a bone-deep reverence for books that shaped my entire childhood. I grew up on a steady, non-negotiable diet of Nancy Drew, Judy Blume, and Beverly Cleary before spending my teenage years shelving books at my local independent bookstore and disappearing into the library stacks whenever I could. Looking back, a life spent surrounded by stories seems almost inevitable.
Today I write fiction—both historical and contemporary—but what draws me isn’t a particular period or place. It’s people. I’m fascinated by the rich interior lives we carry beneath the versions of ourselves we show the world: the contradictions, longings, quiet griefs, impossible choices, and private moments that shape us long before anyone else notices. Whether my characters lived four hundred years ago or live next door, I’m interested in what it feels like to be them.
I spent more than thirty years in integrated marketing, global advertising, and strategic operations, including leading integrated product marketing teams at Microsoft Game Studios. Although the work was very different, it taught me something I still rely on every day: every memorable story begins with understanding people.
In 2017, I founded Page 1 Books, a personalized book subscription service built on the belief that the right book can change the way we see ourselves—and each other. What began as a side project grew into an international community of readers and was recognized by Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, and the New York Times as one of the country’s best book subscription services. After selling the business, I finally made the leap I’d been dreaming about for years, moving from Chicago to England.
My debut novel, No Grotesques in Nature, was a finalist for the Wildhouse Fiction Prize and shortlisted for the Virginia Prize for Fiction. My contemporary novel, The Kite, was longlisted for the 2026 Mslexia Novel Award and received an Honourable Mention in the CRAFT Literary First Chapters Contest.
I hold a BS in English Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University, and I now divide my time between writing and teaching. There’s nothing I love more than talking about stories—why they move us, why they endure, and how the smallest details can reveal an entire human life.
These days, you’ll usually find me walking the hills above Hastings with my rescue beagle, Bingley, swimming in the freezing English Channel, or disappearing down another historical rabbit hole in search of the next story.
Brandy O'Briant 