Erika Rummel grew up in Vienna and came to Canada in 1965. In 1980, Rummel published her first short story, in Quarry, and taught courses on Renaissance history at U of T. After resettling in Toronto, she was hired by the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, where she received a Full Professorship, SSHRC grants, and fellowships in Germany and the US. She spent 1999/2000 in Los Angeles as a Getty Fellow and fell in love with the city, its museums, beaches and mountains. Her first novel, Playing Naomi, builds on that experience.