About the Author

After thirteen years at an all-girls school in Memphis and a house full of sisters, Lisa Patton headed for co-ed life at the University of Alabama where she received a BA in Communications. Forever the music lover, Lisa landed her first job at the Historic Orpheum Theatre in Memphis as a manager and show promoter before transitioning into promotions at WMC-FM 100, the landmark Memphis radio station. It was there she received Billboard Magazine's Promotion Director of the Year award. The birth of her two sons made it difficult to emcee nightly charity auctions and movie premieres so Lisa shifted into TV promotions at the NBC affiliate, WMC-TV Channel 5. Writing radio and TV promotional spots, character voice bits, and news promos made up a large part of both broadcasting positions. A three-year stint in the restaurant business as an innkeeper in Vermont added diversity to her southern roots and it was there Lisa got the inspiration for her bestselling novel, WHISTLIN' DIXIE IN A NOR'EASTER. After surviving three sub-zero winters, Lisa's compass pointed south again and she sped back to Tennessee to de-thaw. A year later she returned to the music industry and was hired by multi-Grammy Award winning recording artist, Michael McDonald as personal assistant and tour manager. She worked on several albums and video projects including the Grammy nominated, certified Platinum, Motown. Lisa remained in that position until writing became a full-time career. A breast cancer survivor, Lisa is now the bestselling author of WHISTLIN' DIXIE IN A NOR'EASTER and YANKEE DOODLE DIXIE. Both novels have been featured on the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Bestseller List and in 2010 Lisa was selected by Target as an Emerging Author. SOUTHERN AS A SECOND LANGUAGE is the third and final book in what Library Journal calls, "The beloved Dixie series." Lisa's fourth novel, RUSH, set inside a fictional sorority house at Ole Miss, provides not only a gaze inside the most exclusive sorority recruitment in the country, but at the relationships between the sisters and the house staff. Currently at work on her fifth book, Lisa is the proud mother of two sons, eight bonus children and eleven grandchildren. She and her husband live in the rolling hills of Nashville, Tennessee with their four-legged furry daughter named Rosie. To learn more about Lisa please visit her website at www.lisapatton.com.