Diane Martineau (New York) lives in Syracuse, the heart of what was once all Iroqois land. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and has taught art in middle and secondary schools. Upon retirement, Martineau set out to write a novel that would involve those who had been so influential in her life: children. Set in Syracuse, her debut young adult book, The Wall on 7th Street, she says, had to be a contemporary fantasy, because she finds the narrow space where the everyday world meets things unknown the most intriguing.