Athina Paris lives in South Africa but spent her formative years in Mozambique, where she was born and went to school. Years in convents and boarding schools prompted a deep curiosity and the need to liberate her mind, which quickly developed into an avid interest in reading and storytelling and led to a lifelong obsession with the written word and books. By fifteen she had read most of the classics, discovered ancient civilizations and became fascinated with various mythologies; a love she has kept to this day. Raised in a culture where meddling is seen as “caring”, she became a spectator of human nature. Quiet and shy, she preferred recording conduct rather than participating in what she calls familial mass hysteria, and so built a treasure-trove of relationship observations from which she eventually drew backgrounds for the characters in her romantic novels. She studied Interior Design, but soon felt the pull of her dormant talent and turned to Creative Writing, as she realised the significance of those note books packed with ideas. She soon followed it with Scriptwriting. Set in faraway and exotic places, Athina”s epic romantic work takes her characters on voyages of self-discovery while dealing with catastrophic love lives and an imperfect world. Her first novel Love & Madness, layered and complex, is the story of a family tested by selfish ambition, misplaced passions and an exploration of the recesses of the human psyche. A stint as a high school English teacher polished her skills. However, she has recently vacated the position to concentrate on her professional goals of writing, editing and proofreading. Athina has joined Rock Hill Publishing LLC as the Editor-in-Chief and author.