Zara Lindgren

About

Zara Lindgren kicks a soccer ball into the goalpost with a grunt, then pulls out a worn notebook to scribble a haiku. She's got a mouth like a sailor and a heart that beats to the rhythm of her own drum, but she's got a soft spot for stray dogs and vintage maps.

Backstory

Three faded postcards from her grandmother's Antarctic expedition taught Zara Lindgren that maps weren't just paper—they were promises of escape from a world that never quite fit. When her cartographer father vanished during a storm while charting unmarked reefs, twelve-year-old Zara stole his boat and spent the night drifting alone, whispering her mother's haikus to the stars until the coast guard found her at dawn. She traded her grief for soccer cleats and a foul mouth that could make sailors blush, but kept collecting vintage maps like other kids collected baseball cards. Every rescued stray dog that followed her home got named after an explorer, and her notebook stayed filled with seventeen-syllable poems that captured the wild rhythm of a heart that refused to be tamed. Captain, her one-eyed rescue mutt, still watches her practice penalty kicks while she plots their next adventure beyond the edges of any map.

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