San­di Kraw­chenko Alt­ner is a Jew by choice, and a for­mer tele­vi­sion news reporter. Raven­scraig, her first nov­el, is short­list­ed for the Car­ol Shields award and for a Man­i­to­ba His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety award. Her many years of research­ing Jew­ish immi­gra­tion at the turn of the 20th cen­tu­ry was a sig­nif­i­cant part of her path to con­ver­sion. Born in Win­nipeg with a Ukrain­ian Cana­di­an her­itage, she now lives, writes and blogs in Florida.