Favorite selfie, taken in Rome
circa 1994 by Don Firke.

Lisa Firke | Rhymes with ^quirky

My surname, Firke, is a present from my husband. It rhymes with quirky, which seems apt.

I create art and make up stories in a funky modern house in Princeton, NJ.

It’s where I grew up and is as much an influence on my outlook and creative work as anything in my life.My father began designing and building this house while I was still a child. He gave it gigantic windows, tipsy skylights and undulating walls.Our family filled it up with animals and art supplies, books and typewriters, and many now-iconic midcentury objects.

Digital Watercolor of Cedar Lane © 2000 by Len Groom.

Lisa as a theater kid in the early 1970s.

In the 60’s and 70’s

…it was a treat to go to the pet store, the stationers, and the public library. I was an odd, dreamy child, and fervently wished animals could talk and dryads were real.I remember placing books open on the floor and wishing I could dive into the colorful scenes—the way the characters magically jump into the sidewalk chalk paintings in Mary Poppins.According to one (almost certainly apocryphal) family account, I told our librarian:

When I grow up, I’m going to make pictures for books and jump into stories every day.

But first I majored in Elementary Education, married a Latin teacher and moved to boarding school.There we raised other people’s teenagers and then our own two children.Professionally, my focus tended to writing, publishing, editorial mentoring, and both web and graphic design. My most posh-sounding job was as Tutor in Writing and Fellow at Yale University. (The most ‘out there’ job was demonstrating 1830s crafts at an historical site in the Catskills.)I still do ‘continuity reading’ for authors and would never turn down children’s book work. But, mainly, I read, write, and make things up, just for me and for my quirky collectors.

Firke kids. Photo © 1994 by Lisa Firke.