Raised in Great Britain, Burton set out to find her English adoptive parents at the age of 22 after her family had immigrated to the U.S. Her memoir, Swimming Up the Sun, chronicles that search and was published by Apippa Publishing in Spring 2008.
She has written 17 plays, including Fred and Frieda, Last Call at the Marble Bar and Starman, Wish Me Luck. Her award-winning dramas and comedies have been produced in theatres and venues as diverse as federal prisons, homeless shelters and the U.S. Capitol. Her screen treatment for Southwest Remembered, a film about urban renewal in Washington, D.C. won the CINE Golden Eagle Award for Best Documentary.
Nicole J. Burton was