Member-only story
About Me — Courtney Denning
Writer. Cat Collector. Gardener. Photographer. Vegan.
Hello! My name is Courtney. I am 33 and was born in Ohio. I have lived in five different towns in Ohio. My first foray into writing online was two Ohio-focused blogs I kept. One I called This Ohio Life, in homage to the radio show/podcast This American Life.
I am named after my great-grandfather, whose middle name was Courtney. I was born on his birthday, too, 93 years later. When my mom found out what her grandfather’s middle name was, she knew she would name her daughter after him. When she realized that I would be born on his birthday, she hoped that I would be a girl. I was born three years after he died, at the age of 90. Besides sharing his name and birthday, I’m also a gardener like he was.
Growing up, my first dream was to be an astronaut. I had these slippers that I thought looked like the boots astronauts would wear. I would bounce around the house pretending I was on the moon. I dropped the astronaut fascination pretty early on and decided in first grade that I would be an author. I wanted to be a writer and illustrator of children’s books like Jan Brett. If you’re not familiar with her work, her books are usually about animals and have gorgeous, detailed illustrations. In many of her books, there is a side story in the margins of the page.
