Thanks for coming by my website. I’m Chrys, and maybe the first thing you should know about me is that I’m always thinking in songs. Whether it’s lyrics or song titles or album names, there is almost no sentence or thought I could speak or hear that doesn’t remind me of a song. In an alternate universe, I’m a rock star or a singer-songwriter lyricist.
In this universe, though, I’m an author.
About Me
Bio
Chrys Buckley was born with albinism, which means she has no pigment and she’s legally blind. Chrys endured approximately ¾ of medical school before breaking free to focus on writing and disability advocacy. She’s currently in the Book Publishing graduate program at Portland State University, pursuing concentrations in Book Editing and Book Design. Chrys is the manager of the Digital and Audio departments at Ooligan Press. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Sun, Shark Reef, and Aerial. She was a finalist (twice) in MTV’s “I’m from Rolling Stone” writing contest. She has won the R.L. Gilette Scholarship and the Sophie Kerr Gift in English Literature. Her debut collection Invisible Violets: A Mixtape in Lyric Essays is forthcoming from Wandering Aengus Press in Spring 2026. Chrys lives, works, walks, and writes in Portland and her brain, heart, body, and soul are composed of ~65% lyrics.
Check out my Extend Author Bio here for more.
You can read more about my origins at my Intro Post from back when this blog was just beginning. It’s not all true anymore, since this blog is now a teenager, but it’s fun for posterity.
FAQ
I’m totally stealing this FAQ idea from Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like An Artist. Here are some random facts and opinions.
Born:
February 4th with four planets (sun, moon, Venus, Mars) in Aquarius.
What kind of tea is in the mug in that header image?
Jasmine. Almost always jasmine.
How many current writing projects?
At the moment, if I exclude the book that’s being published next year, I have 11 books at various stages, all past the “just a twinkle in my mindheart’s artist’s eye” phase. About another dozen, some of them sequels, still in the twinkle phase.
Three novellas – one fiction, one nonfiction, one somewhere in between.
Four screenplays in progress, with a potential fifth sketched out.
A whole bunch of shorter pieces.
It’s getting crowded up in here, so I need to get more of these out of me and into the world.
Degrees:
B.S. in Micro/Molecular Biology
B.S. in Biochemistry
B.S. in Arts & Letters (I took a whole bunch of creative writing and film classes when I was pre-med)
About 3/4 of a medical degree
Currently in the Book Publishing program at Portland State University
Do I have a writing routine?
Sometimes. Sometimes not. Either way, I’m always writing.
If a genie offered me 3 writing wishes, what would they be?
- To live long enough to write all the books that already currently live inside me
- To be able to quote lyrics with impunity (credited and done with the utmost love, of course)
- I was going to say the obvious more wishes, but it’s mostly just the first one. And I guess, not to be so quite so broke, and to have more time to devote to writing, so living long enough to get the books inside of me outside of me is a reasonable request
Favorite Book of All Time
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Other favorites:
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Chronology of Water (and many others) by Lidia Yuknavitch
The Liars Club (and its sequels) by Mary Karr
Hysterical by Elissa Bassist
In the Woods, The Likeness, The Secret Place by Tana French
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
True Biz by Sara Novic
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Lucky (and other books) by Alice Sebold
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Yellowface by rf kuang
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Most problematic favorite book:
Infinite Jest
Top Concerts
- Chris Cornell at the State Theater in New Brunswick, NJ for the Euphoria Morning tour
- Jerry Cantrell in Philly – met him afterwards
- Tori Amos at Benaroya Hall for The Beekeeper tour
- Fiona Apple and Damien Rice at Chateau Ste. Michelle
- Nudedragons – the Soundgarden reunion show in 2010 at the Showbox in Seattle (still can’t believe that happened)
- I Am the Highway – the tribute concert for Chris Cornell – though obviously, I wish it never had to happen
- The Eras Tour – Seattle N1 – the first reported Swiftquake, and I definitely contributed to the seismic activity
- Counting Crows 2023 – I’d wanted to see them for soooooo many years and it kept not working out, so this was a long, long, long time coming
Fun fact: I saw the same song (by different artists) at two of these shows that probably no one would expect.
Get to Know Me in 13 Musical Artists:
Chris Cornell (including his solo work, Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, and Audioslave)
Tori Amos
Taylor Swift
Counting Crows
Tool
Alice in Chains
Fiona Apple
Jeff Buckley
Courtney Love
Olivia Rodrigo
Green Day
Ingrid Michaelson (including Army of 3)
Nirvana
A Happy Photo
Chrys Buckley 