Markus Zusak
Australian author Markus Zusak grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, about the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother’s small, German town. He always knew it was a story he wanted to tell. At the age of 30, Zusak has already asserted himself as one of today’s most innovative and poetic novelists. With the publication of The Book Thief, he is now being dubbed a ‘literary phenomenon’ by Australian and U.S. critics. Zusak is the award-winning author of four previous books for young adults: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl, and I Am the Messenger, recipient of a 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature. He lives in Sydney.
Hilari Bell
Hilari was born in Denver in 1958. She's single and lives with her mother, brother, and sister-in-law. Hilari used to be a part-time reference librarian for a mid-sized public library, but in the beginning of ’05 she achieved a writer’s dream and quit the day job. She enjoys board gaming and fantasy gaming, both table top and live. But Hilari's favorite thing to do is the decadent version of camping that she and her mom practice. They have a pop-up trailer with a fridge, a sink, a stove, and (if electrical hookups are available) a space heater, heating pads, and a toaster. Their motto is "No unnecessary work." They don't cook, they don't wash dishes, they don't...you name it. They spend all day, every day, reading and hiking and reading some more. Camping is the only time she can get in enough reading. Hilari is best known for her Farsala series.
Read Nancy Etchemendy's Pep Talk
Nancy Etchemendy
Nancy was born in Reno, Nevada in 1952. Deserts, sagebrush, horses, real cowboys, and Indians, abandoned silver mines and the occasional mobster were everyday parts of her childhood. She had a lot of different pets, including but not limited to dogs (Sugar and Doggin), cats (Harvey, Herman, and Ralph Snavely), a goat (Cathaleen), a parakeet (Petey), and two unnamed ducks who poop a lot. While attending the University of Nevada, Nancy worked at many interesting jobs. Her favorites were hardware clerk (she knows the difference between a clevis pin and a cotter pin), printing press operator (200 copies per minute), and cabaret singer (not that unusual in Reno). Nancy now lives and works in Northern California, where she leads a somewhat schizophrenic life, alternating between unkempt, introverted writer of weird tales and gracious wife of John Etchemendy, Stanford University's Provost. He and Nancy have one son, who is all grown up and currently lives in Salt Lake City, which seems startling at first, but like everything else, makes sense when you hear the whole story. Her latest release is Cat in Glass and Other Tales of the Unnatural , which has won the ALA Best Book for Young Adults and was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist.
Ysabeau Wilce
Ysabeau Wilce has lived many different places, including San Francisco, Anchorage, Miami, Mexico City, Madrid, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. She's always brought her books along with her everywhere she has moved. Wilce was formerly a museum curator and when sitting in on a lecture she first came up with the idea for Flora Segunda, a series of young adult books. She has a graduate degree in military history and lives with her border collie in Chicago.
Read Esther Friesner's Pep Talk
Esther Friesner
Esther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A.'s in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles include Temping Fate from Penguin-Puffin and Nobody's Princess from Random House. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.
Sue Limb
Sue Limb was born in 1946 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. She is a British writer and broadcaster. Sue studied Elizabethan lyric poetry at Cambridge and then trained in education. She has not taught since 1982 – at London's Pentonville Prison. She lives on an organic farm near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire and some of her interests include natural history, horticulture and agriculture, travel, architecture, music, politics and painting. Sue writes many novels for young adults which includes the Girl, 15 Series.
Laurel Snyder
Laurel Snyder is the author of a picture book, “Inside the Slidy Diner” (Tricycle, October, 2008) and a children’s novel, Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains OR The Search for a Suitable Princess (Random House, August, 2008). Currently she is at work on a second novel, Any Which Wall. In addition to her books for children, Laurel has written two books of poems, Daphne & Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse (Burnside Review Press, 2005) and The Myth of the Simple Machines (No Tell Books, 2007). She also edited an anthology of nonfiction, Half/Life: Jew-ish tales from Interfaith Homes (Soft Skull Press, 2006) A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Michener-Engle Fellow, Laurel has published work in the Utne Reader, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Revealer, Salon, The Iowa Review, American Letters and Commentary, and elsewhere. She is an occasional commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered, but most of all, she is a mom.
Cathy Hopkins
Cathy Hopkins lives in North London with her husband and two mad cats. It took her until she was 35 to decide what she wanted to do when she grew up (be a writer), so she has had a variety of other jobs. She trained as a secondary school teacher but instead of teaching, joined a rock and roll band, Driving Rock and the Rockettes, as one of the Rockettes. She’s also worked as an occupational therapist, a scriptwriter, a newspaper reviewer on Sky News, a script reader for the comedy unit at the BBC and an aromatherapist. She has been writing since 1987 and so far has had over fifty books published. She is the author of the Mates Dates teen fiction series (set in London) the Truth Dare series (set in Cornwall), the Zodiac Girls (set in the fictional place called Osbury) and Cinnamon Girl (set in London). The books are now published in 30 different countries and have sold over four million copies. The fifth book in the Mates, Dates series, Mates, Dates, and Sole Survivors, was recently released in the U.K.
Read Rosemary Clement-Moore's Pep Talk
Rosemary Clement-Moore
Rosemary has been writing stories all her life, even when she should have been doing other things, like studying Algebra. Her first paying job was as Chuck E. Cheese. Rosemary worked in theatre for years, and now is writing full time, which is her dream job, because she gets to work in her pajamas and take a break every afternoon to play Guitar Hero. Rosemary is best known for writing the Prom Dates From Hell series.
Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman was born October 23, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. He wrote his first book, This Can't be Happening at Macdonald Hall when he was 12 years old for a coach who suddenly found himself teaching 7th grade English … he later took that episode and created a book out of it, as well, in the Sixth Grade Nickname Game, where Mr. Huge was based on that 7th grade teacher. His first book found a home with Scholastic, who also published his next 20 or so books, including six more Bruno and Boots titles, and several award winning young adult titles. Gordon eventually made one of his homes in New York City, where he studied film and film writing. While in New York, he also met his future wife, and they eventually married -- they now have three children. He now lives on Long Island, outside of New York City, has approximately 55 books to his credit, and is currently contracted for several more, including the six volume On the Run adventure series, and new young adult and children's titles.
Kathryn Reiss
Kathryn Reiss was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Ohio, and received B.A. degrees in English and German from Duke University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. After college, she lived in Bonn, Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, and during this time wrote the first draft of her first novel. Her latest novel is Blackthorn Winter: A Murder Mystery. Ms. Reiss has been a Writer in Residence for the Princeton Arts Council, a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant for Writers, and has been a featured speaker with (among others) Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, The Northern California Library Association, The International Reading Association, Fresno County Office of Education, California Reading Association, The American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives in Northern California with her husband and five children, and teaches Creative Writing at Mills College.
Read Jerry Spinelli's Pep Talk
Jerry Spinelli
When Jerry was in elementary school, he wanted to become a cowboy, which he even had the outfit for. Later he wanted to be a baseball player. Jerry traded his baseball hat for a pencil and became a writer while in high school. Eileen Spinelli became his wife, both are writers. They have six kids who bring up memories for Jerry of his childhood. Jerry now has 25 published books and 16 grandchildren. His 1998 novel, Wringer, is a Newbery Honor winner. He likes to pick berries, touch ponies, skim flat stones over water, marvel at the stars, breathe deeply and grin from ear to ear, and save the best part till last.
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Suzanne was born in Philadelphia, and grew up beside a beautiful lake in the hills of Northeastern Pennsylvania. She has two brothers and one sister. Suzanne graduated from Keystone College and Cedar Crest College, where she majored in literature and political science. She's always loved reading and writing, and has always dreamed of traveling. When she graduated from college she went to work for a newspaper. Eventually she became a foreign news reporter in Hong Kong, where she worked for United Press International. Suzanne moved to India and became the chief of UPI’s South Asia bureau, where she reported on the news from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Suzanne is married to Wayne Harley, who was her first love. They live in Pennsylvania, on a farm with three cats and three standard poodles named Bogey, Mango, and BB King. Suzanne works now mostly as a novelist. Every year she tries to take at least one trip to a place she's never been before. In 2007 she went to Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Suzanne is best known for writing Shabanu and her most recent release is Under the Persimmon Tree.
Emily Franklin
Emily Franklin is the author of over a dozen books for young adults including seven-book series The Principles of Love and The Other Half of Me, as well as her latest book At Face Value, a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac set at high school. She also writes books for adults including Too Many Cooks: 4 Kids, 1 Mother, 165 New Foods - A Memoir of Tasting, Testing, and Discovery in the Kitchen which will be published in April 2009. Visit her at www.emilyfranklin.com.