Erin Van Rheenen, MA, writes fiction and nonfiction that explores family dynamics, cultural difference, and the power of place. Her work has been anthologized and published in Bellevue Literary Review, Atlas Obscura, BBC Travel, Fiction, The Sun, and Best Women’s Travel Writing. She won the Pirates Alley Faulkner Society prize for best novel in manuscript, judged by novelist Oscar Hijuelos. Her work has been supported by Cottages at Hedgebrook, Community of Writers, and Hippocamp.

You Could Be Happy Here is inspired by Erin’s connection to Latin America. Born in Oregon, schooled in Santa Cruz and New York City, her passion for place really took hold in the Southern reaches of the Americas. She learned Spanish as a child in Guatemala, lived for years as an adult in Ecuador and Mexico, and was married to a Mexico City artist. After they divorced, she moved to Costa Rica, where she lived and traveled by herself while researching her best-selling relocation guide, Living Abroad in Costa Rica (Avalon Travel Publishing). She has contributed to many travel and live-abroad guides, and has been interviewed on radio and television as an expert on Costa Rica and relocating abroad.