Hi, I'm Neil Aitken. I'm 33, single, and currently living in Los Angeles as an expatriate Canadian.

Originally from Vancouver, BC, I've lived in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan, as well as various parts of Western Canada and the United States. I did an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Mathematics at BYU, served a mission in Taiwan, worked for 5 years as a computer games programmer in Los Angeles, then pursued an MFA in Creative Writing (poetry & fiction) at UC Riverside. After spending a year back in Canada, I returned earlier this year to Los Angeles and am currently working on a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing at USC.

My connection to Mormon Literature & AML? I've been a lurker on the AML-List for many years, popping up occasionally when topics come closer to my own areas of interest. I was first introduced to the list through a conversation with Gideon Burton, from whom I had taken a couple classes while at BYU. I'm a poet and have been successfully publishing in a wide variety of national journals over the past few years. My work isn't overtly Mormon in subject matter (at least not culturally Mormon), but I do strive for a sense of the spiritual in my writing.

Like others, I'm a blogger: http://www.neil-aitken.com/PoetryBlog and I also have my own website: http://www.neil-aitken.com