Born and raised in New Jersey, Heather earned her BA from Ramapo College in Literature and Creative Writing and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. There she was awarded the Jack Salamanca Thesis Award for her collection The Hunting Ground and Other Stories. Her short story, "Listening to Birds" won honorable mention in the AWP Intro Journals Project and second place in Salamander's 2018 Fiction Contest. Her short story, "Junkyard in Passaic County" won first prize in New South's ​prose contest. She has been nominated for Sundress' Best of the Net, two Pushcart prizes, and was included in the Wigleaf 50. Her collection of short stories What We Were Looking For was a semi-finalist in Black Lawrence Press' St. Lawrence Book Award, longlisted for the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize, and a finalist in the UNO Press Lab Prize. Heather attended Skidmore's New York State Summer Writers Institute in 2013 and in 2014.
 

Heather's work explores themes of love, loss, and addiction. Her stories explore the landscapes of New Jersey, Alaska, and the Adirondacks. She teaches creative and academic writing courses at Rutgers University and Ramapo College. 

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