Life

Bakis was raised in Westchester County, New York

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...

, and graduated from New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in 1990. She is a recipient of a Teaching/Writing Fellowship from the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

 Writer's Workshop

Iowa Writers' Workshop

The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing program in the United States...

, a grant from the Michener/Copernicus Society of America.

She has taught at Hampshire College

Hampshire College

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...

 and was a writer-in-residence at Skidmore College

Skidmore College

Skidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....

, Saratoga Springs, New York in 2005. She is currently living in Croton-on-Hutson, New York with her husband, their two children, and two dogs, and is at work on her second novel.

Awards

• 2004 Whiting Writers' Award
  Whiting Writers' Award
  The Whiting Writers' Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and has been presented since 1985. As of 2007, winners receive US $50,000.-External links:**...
  
   for fiction.
• New York Times Notable Book for the year, for Lives of the Monster Dogs
• Orange Prize for Fiction
  Orange Prize for Fiction
  The Orange Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes, annually awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English, and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year...
  
   shortlisted, for Lives of the Monster Dogs
• Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel
  Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel
  The Bram Stoker Award for First Novel is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing for an author's first horror novel.-Winners and nominees:Nominees are listed below the winner for each year....
  
  , for Lives of the Monster Dogs