Award-winning author Hillary Carlip's memoir, Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan (HarperCollins May, 2006), has received rave reviews, is an American Bookseller's Association Book Sense Pick chosen by independent bookstores throughout the country, a Lambda Literary Award finalist in two categories (humor and memoir), and was selected by Borders as one of the Best Literary Memoirs of 2006.

Hillary has been hailed as a pioneer in bringing the voices of teenage girls into the mainstream with her first book Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out (Warner Books, 1995). She was honored by the New York Public Library when the groundbreaking Girl Power was selected for its prestigious "Best Books for Teens" list. When Hillary appeared on Oprah, the hour show was devoted to the book. Now in its eighth printing, Girl Power continues to attract new readers and is required reading for many Women's Studies courses throughout the country.

Hillary's second book, Zine Scene (Girl Press, 1999), which she designed herself and co-wrote with the renowned author Francesca Lia Block, was included in a show at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York City, and won an American Library Association Award.

Hillary is the creator, editor and host of the acclaimed literary website, FRESH YARN: The Online Salon for Personal Essays. Every three weeks FRESH YARN presents six pieces written by a diverse range of all-star writers/performers and personalities. FRESH YARN has been a YAHOO PICK, featured in an LA Times article, picked as a HOT SITE by USA Today, and receives almost 10 million hits a year.

Hillary is also an NPR commentator, having written and recorded pieces for All Things Considered, and reads/performs her personal essays at spoken word hot spots including The Un-Cabaret's Say the Word and Sit n' Spin at Comedy Central's theater. She appeared in the Los Angeles Theater Works production of FIRED, which aired on NPR, as well as New York's FIRED show at Second Stage Theater. She also has a piece included in the book FIRED!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed (Simon and Schuster's Touchstone Books, 2006).

As a creative and motivational consultant and speaker, Hillary encourages and inspires people to find uniquely creative ways to live their lives, clarify and fulfill their goals, and promote their businesses.

With Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Danielle Trussoni, and Maria Dahvana Headley, she is a founding member of The Memoirists Collective, a group that seeks to identify and nurture new talent in nonfiction, as well as to encourage collaborative and creative book promotion.

Early in her screenwriting career Hillary saw her first film script, SKIRTS, co-written with Miss Congeniality co-writer, Katie Ford, sold in a bidding war to Columbia Studios. Hillary then went on to do script rewrites for many of the major studios, among those projects several original animated films for Disney including An Extremely Goofy Movie (winner of an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Movie Production).

As a visual artist, Hillary has designed and produced websites for major stars (including Jennifer Aniston), artists, authors, musicians and advertisers, and continues to break ground with her web production and design company Fly HC. Hillary has shown and sold her found-object assemblages through several prominent Los Angeles galleries. She has also done private commissions and been featured in group exhibits in New York and Chicago.

From 1999-2001, Hillary was Co-President/Founder/Executive Creative Director of VOXXY, the highly acclaimed interactive network. There, she oversaw all creative aspects of the company including designing and producing 10 major websites, which earned Voxxy the 2000 Bandie Broadband Award for innovation in the category "Newest New Thing."

As a performance artist, Hillary has written and performed comedy material, as well as juggled and eaten fire as a solo act, and with such noted performers as the Flying Karamazov Brothers. She appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show, teaching Ellen how to eat fire (complete with Liza Minnelli running onstage -- unplanned -- with a fire extinguisher!) She also started her own record label, releasing songs she wrote and performed with her all-girl band, Angel and the Reruns. The band's song "Buffy Come Back" became an international cult hit, and Hillary appeared in several films (including Tom Hank's Bachelor Party), and on their soundtracks, with songs she wrote, produced and performed.

Currently, Hillary is working on her fourth book, and developing a network television show based on Queen of the Oddballs.

You can find out more about Hillary at her website www.flyhc.com.