Gina Hyams is an author and editor who specializes in mysterious and confounding subjects, such as pie, nannies, extraterrestrial encounters, the history of incense, folk art, facials, pink palapas, death, and room service.

Her books include the bestselling travel-design titles, In a Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms and Mexicasa: The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico, as well as Pacific Spas: Luxury Getaways on the West Coast, Day of the Dead Box, The Campfire Collection: Thrilling, Chilling Tales of Alien Encounters, and Incense: Rituals, Mystery, Lore — all published by Chronicle Books. She is also co-editor of the anthology, Searching for Mary Poppins: Women Write About the Relationship Between Mothers and Nannies (Hudson Street Press and Plume, divisions of Penguin U.S.A.), which won a 2007 NAPPA Honors Award (the National Parenting Publications Awards for Parenting Resources). Her Pie Contest in a Box: Everything You Need to Host a Pie Contest will be published by Andrews McMeel, spring 2011.

Gina is a contributing editor to Berkshire Living. Her essays and articles have also appeared in Newsweek, San Francisco, Organic Style, Ideal Destinations, Healing Lifestyles & Spas, and Salon.com. She has contributed to Fodor's Travel Publications, National Public Radio, and numerous anthologies. She was honored for her Twitter stylings by Mashable: The Social Media Guide in Nonfiction Tweets: 70+ Authors to Follow on Twitter.

Her background also includes extensive experience in marketing and public relations on behalf of Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Berkshire International Film Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Hancock Shaker Village, HarperCollins Publishers, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, The Mount, Mother Jones magazine, San Francisco State University Poetry Center, and Victoria Kirby Public Relations.

Raised in San Francisco, she now lives in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts with her husband, Dave Barrett, and daughter, Annalena.