Jane Rosen­thal stud­ied cre­ative writ­ing at San Fran­cis­co State Uni­ver­si­ty. She worked for NPR and Cal­i­for­nia Pub­lic Radio before teach­ing Eng­lish in pub­lic high schools in Oak­land, Cal­i­for­nia. She grew up Jew­ish and south­ern in Char­lotte, North Car­oli­na, and now resides in San­ta Fe, New Mex­i­co, with her hus­band, astro­physi­cist David Hollenbach.