As a child grew up in multiple towns in southwest Florida, and then spent summers in Tennessee. Kiernan's father died when she was a year old, and she was raised by her mother.[1] She was nine years old when her family moved to Chicago for a time.[2] Kiernan attended several gifted programs as a child, from which she drew her ideas for Catching Genius.[3] Kiernan was interested in reading as a young child, but she did not start to write novels until she was thirty-years old.[4]
Kiernan is the author of Catching Genius (Berkley Books), a novel about two sisters whose lives are altered when one is discovered to be profoundly gifted. Her second book, Matters of Faith, was published in 2008 and received the Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal.[5] Her third novel, "Between Friends" was published in 2010.