A Light of Her Own

Carrie Callaghan of Silver Spring, MD

Carrie Callaghan is a historical fiction author living in Maryland with her spouse, two young children, and two ridiculous cats. Her short fiction has appeared in Weave Magazine, The MacGuffin, Silk Road, Floodwall, and elsewhere. Carrie is also an editor and contributor with the Washington Independent Review of Books. She first learned of Judith Leyster, the artist at the center of her novel, at an exhibition celebrating the 400-year anniversary of Leyster’s birth. Moved by the confident gaze of Leyster’s self portrait, Carrie determined to bring light to the inspirational story of an ambitious woman whose dedication fulfilled the promise of her name as a “leading star.”