When Irene was eight years old, she wrote in her Dr. Seuss' MY BOOK ABOUT ME that, in addition to mother, veterinarian and farmer, she wanted to be a writer. However, she didn't take a single writing class in college. Instead, she earned degrees in social work from University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa). Irene also participated in the Walt Disney College Program and is the proud recipient of a Mouster's Degree.

For many years writing was Irene's secret life, but after the birth of her third son, she decided to pull those poems and stories out of drawers and share them with others. Since then she has published over 120 poems in various books, journals and anthologies, including a full-length collection WHAT CAME BEFORE, which was named Alabama State Poetry Society's Book of the Year and earned a 2008 Independent Publisher's (IPPY) Award. Her first historical novel for children, LEAVING GEE’S BEND, was released by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in January, 2010. It was inspired by the now-famous Quilts of Gee’s Bend and has been called “a beautifully stitched quilt of a novel” by Richard Peck and “authentic and memorable” by Booklist.

Irene especially enjoys sharing her passion for writing with others at school, senior centers, libraries, Girl Scout meetings and writing conferences. She is the co-founder of the Big Table Poets and serves as poetry editor for Birmingham Arts Journal.

Irene loves exploring new places and often uses "research" as an excuse to travel. Her favorite characters in books and real life are those who have the courage to go their own way. she is currently hard at work on a new collection of poems inspired by the NPS (National Park Service) Historic Photo Collection, and another midgrade novel DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS, about the son of a zoo director mom and elephant keeper dad who struggles to escape the confines of zoo life.