BERLIN GUNNING was born in Seattle in 1982, the youngest of seven sisters. She is the first of them to earn a Master's degree, having studied writing at Oregon's Portland State University, where she first received a Bachelor's degree in English, and then specialized in editing. She lives, writes, indulges her twin passions for classical music and horses, and is happily single in Portland, Oregon. The Ill Fortune To Be Dark In The Eyes is both the first volume of The Dar Ievna Series and her debut novel.