About the Author:
Richelle Mead
Lori L. Otto
About the Author:
Lori’s passion for writing began in elementary school. She received the highest score at Toler Elementary School on the creative writing essay portion of the state’s standardized test, which was centered around a Peanuts cartoon. Not only did she excel at writing, she enjoyed the freedom that it afforded her. She could create entire worlds based solely on her over-active imagination.
Lori’s high school English teacher supported her endeavors in poetry and essay writing. At the University of Texas in Arlington, she majored in Communications with a focus on Journalism, and minored in Art. Her dream was to become an advertising copywriter, until her advertising professor encouraged her to shift her focus to creative writing, because her talents were being wasted on advertising copy. She briefly considered it, but after doing well in a graphic design course, she switched gears, and eventually became a Creative Director and Marketing Manager for Clear Channel Outdoor.
Ten years later, Lori found herself burned out from exclusively writing sales and marketing materials. She left outdoor advertising and went into retail, working as the Lead Genius in her local Apple Store. The career change gave her more free time to focus on her other interests.
After an exhilarating, collaborative writing project, she had an idea for an original novel. The characters and their rich stories would keep her awake at night, and even with barely any sleep, she felt more alert and alive than she had in years. Her days off were spent in cafés, sandwich shops and bookstores, feverishly trying to get all of the details out of her head and onto paper.
In the spring of 2009, after a few months of writing, Lori decided to tweak one chapter from the novel-in-progress and enter it as a short story in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, where she was awarded Honorable Mention in the Mainstream/Literary Short Story category.
A year later, she completed a series of three novels–Lost and Found, Time Stands Still, and Never Look Back–which were published in the spring of 2011. The following year, she published her first novella, Not Today, But Someday, a prequel to the Emi Lost & Found series. In the winter of 2012, Lori published her first YA novel, Contessa.
Brittainy C. Cherry
About the Author:
Brittainy C. Cherry has been in love with words since the day she took her first breath. She graduated from Carroll University with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Creative Writing. She loves to take part in writing screenplays, acting, and dancing--poorly of course. Coffee, chai tea, and wine are three things that she believes every person should partake in.
T.K. Rapp
About the Author:
I am a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend. I’m a lover of music, photography and raunchy television. If I asked my friends what words they would use to describe me, I imagine it would be one of the following: dork (I absolutely agree), awkward, quiet (sometimes), talkative (unless someone else trumps me), loyal (always), gossip, straight-laced (but I’m no angel), eloquent with words (sometimes), reclusive, shy, bitchy (guilty!), sympathetic, and wary. These are the ones I can come up with off the top of my head. I embrace the good and bad parts of myself and hope that someday I can and will be the person I’m meant to be.
In July of 2013, I published my first novel, Being There. It was a lifelong dream to write something that I loved and see it published. Since then, I have published 3 more books and have another 3 on the way. But there's no rush...the words are there.
Gidget & Peese (my kids) and my husband are the loves of my life and I’d do anything for them. When I’m with them is the only time that I am truly truly myself. Anything people THINK they have seen of me is nothing compared to what my kids have actually seen. It makes me smile just thinking about it. So, in a nutshell, I’m a person, I do things, and people think things of me. I’d share more, but it would be even more boring that what’s already here.
Laura Thalassa
About the Author:
Laura Thalassa lives in sunny Santa Barbara, California with her husband, author Dan Rix.
Amy A. Bartol
About the Author:
I am a graduate of Hillsdale College and live in Michigan with my husband and our two sons. My family is very supportive of my writing. They often bring me the take-out menu so that I can call and order them dinner. They listen patiently when I talk about my characters like they’re real. They rarely roll their eyes when I tell them I’ll only be a second while I finish writing a chapter…and then they take off their coats. They ask me how the story is going when I surface after living for hours in a world of my own making. They have learned to accept my "writing uniform" consisting of a slightly unflattering pink fleece jacket, t-shirt, and black yoga pants. And they smile at my nerdy bookishness whenever I try to explain urban fantasy to them. In short, they get me, so they are perfect and I am blessed.
Katja Millay
About the Author:
Katja Millay graduated with a degree in film and television production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has worked as a television producer and film studies & screenwriting teacher. Her debut novel The Sea of Tranquility was a recipient of the American Library Association’s Alex Award and was named one of the Best Books of 2013 by the School Library Journal. She currently resides in Florida with her family.
Rainbow Rowell
About the Author:
Rainbow Rowell writes books.
Sometimes she writes about adults (Attachments and Landline).
Sometimes she writes about teenagers (Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On.).
But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they’re screwing up. And people who fall in love.
When she’s not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don’t really matter in the big scheme of things.
She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.
Sara J Maas
About the Author:
Sarah J. Maas is the author of the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling Throne of Glass series–Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, and the series’ prequel, The Assassin’s Blade–as well as the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses. She wrote the first incarnation of the Throne of Glass series when she was just sixteen, and it has now sold in twenty-three languages. A Court of Mist and Fury, the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, will release on May 3rd, 2016.
A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and dog. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hamilton College in 2008 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in Religious Studies.
Fisher Amelie
About the Author:
Fisher grew up writing. She secretly hid notebooks and notebooks of dribble in a large Tupperware storage container in her closet as a kid. She didn't put two and two together until after college where it suddenly dawned on her, "Hey, I like writing". She's a bit dense. "No, I'm not." "Yes, you are. Put down that Oreo, your butt can't take any more." "You're rude." "Yeah, yeah." Anyway, she likes to write and has finally beaten her self-esteem into submission enough to allow herself to be scrutinized under the 'other readers' microscope. "No! No! Not a cover slip! Last time it gave me a ra...." (mumbling)
Nicole Williams
About the Author:
Kasie West
About the Author:
I am the mother of four--three daughters and one son. We live in Central California where the summers try to kill us with their 115 degree stretches.
Which, aside from writing is one of my favorite things to do. My skill level on a wakeboard does not match my passion for the sport. I would claim that maybe I can get better at it, but I'm too chicken. I don't want to get injured (this means I'm old).
I graduated from Fresno State University with a BA degree that has nothing to do with writing. I earned my masters in Junior Mint eating (which is awarded after eating your millionth King Size box....I'm now working on my PhD). I love sappy alternative rock ballads and reading way past my bedtime.
Susan Elizabeth Philips
About the Author:
I STARTED TO WRITE completely by accident. I taught high school until our oldest son was born, then quit to stay home. In 1976, my husband’s job took us from Ohio to central New Jersey. My best friend Claire lived two doors down the street. Both of us were big readers, reading everything from literary fiction to the newly popular historical romance novels. We loved talking about the books—what we liked, what we didn’t. One day, just for fun, we decided to try to write a book together. For three weeks as we rode our bikes in the evening, with my toddler in the baby seat behind me, we plotted our story. Then we sat down with a yellow pad and began to write.
FOUR HOURS LATER we’d come up with exactly three sentences. We had no idea how to write a book together, but we were getting a good idea how not to do it. Over the course of the next few months, we worked out a system. We’d get together to plot a scene, frequently role-playing dialogue. Claire would take copious notes, carry them to her typewriter, and come up with a rough draft, which she’d give to me. Sometimes I’d just change a sentence here or there. Other times, I’d throw out all of her hard work and start over again. Somehow our friendship survived.
IDIOTS’ LUCK. With only half the manuscript completed, we got the phone number of an editor at Dell Publishing. Sweating bullets, we called her. She was a very nice woman, asked us some questions about our book, and then agreed to see it, even though it wasn’t finished. Unfortunately, she also wanted to see a synopsis. Synopsis? We barely knew what was going to happen in the next chapter, let alone the end of the book. Knees trembling, we ran to the typewriter and came up with something, then spent the next few weeks typing a fresh copy of our manuscript to mail off.
THREE WEEKS LATER the telephone rang. It was the editor. “I’m calling from Dell Publishing. We’ve read your manuscript. We like it. And Dell is prepared to make you an offer.”
IDIOTS’ LUCK. With only half the manuscript completed, we got the phone number of an editor at Dell Publishing. Sweating bullets, we called her. She was a very nice woman, asked us some questions about our book, and then agreed to see it, even though it wasn’t finished. Unfortunately, she also wanted to see a synopsis. Synopsis? We barely knew what was going to happen in the next chapter, let alone the end of the book. Knees trembling, we ran to the typewriter and came up with something, then spent the next few weeks typing a fresh copy of our manuscript to mail off.
THREE WEEKS LATER the telephone rang. It was the editor. “I’m calling from Dell Publishing. We’ve read your manuscript. We like it. And Dell is prepared to make you an offer.”
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Kristin Cashore
About the Author:
And so, without knowing it, I was planting the seeds. Reading and daydreaming = perfect preparation for writing.
At 18, I went off to college-- thank you, Williams College, for the financial aid that made this possible-- and it almost killed me. College is hard, man, and the Berkshires are cloudy. A (phenomenal) year studying abroad in sunny Sydney revived me. After college I developed a compulsive moving problem: New York City, Boston, Cambridge, Austin, Pennsylvania, Italy, and even a short stint in London, where my showerhead hung from the cutest little stand that was exactly like the cradle of an old-fashioned telephone. The best phone calls are the pretend phone calls made from your telephone tub.
During my stint in Boston, I got an M.A. at the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College. (Thank you, Simmons, for the scholarship that made this possible!) Grad school almost killed me, but I felt a lot more alive than when I was almost being killed in college. The Simmons program is stupendous. It got me thinking and breathing YA books. It got me writing.
Since Simmons, I haven't stopped writing, not once. I've developed a compulsive writing problem that makes my moving problem look like a charming personality quirk. I can't stop! But it's not actually a problem, because I don't want to stop. I've been writing full-time for a bunch of years now, first doing educational writing for the K-6 market and now working exclusively on my novels. It's a dream job, which is another way of saying that when I shop for work clothes, I go straight to the pajamas section.
A few years ago I grew tired of all the moving and dealt with it by, um, moving, from Jacksonville, Florida, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, trading the St. Johns River for the Charles River and pelicans for geese. As a native northerner, it's nice to be back in the land of four seasons. I feel as if I've come home.
Kristen Callihan
About the Author:
Maggie Stiefvater
About the Author:
I have been a wedding musician, a technical editor, a portrait artist, and, for several fraught weeks, a waitress. I play several musical instruments (most infamously, the bagpipes), I still make art, and I recently acquired and unacquired a race car.
I live in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with my husband, my two children, some cows, three dogs who fart recreationally, a criminally insane cat, an interminable number of miniature silky fainting goats, and one 1973 Camaro named Loki.
I like things that go.
Bethany-Kris
About the Author:
Krista & Becca Ritchie
About the Author:
They are the New Adult authors of the Addicted series and Calloway Sisters spin-off series, and you can find them on almost every social media, frolicking around like wannabe unicorns.
Emma Chase
About the Author:
Emma is an avid reader. Before her children were born she was known to consume whole books in a single day. Writing has also always been a passion and with the 2013 release of her debut romantic comedy, Tangled, the ability to now call herself an author is nothing less than a dream come true.
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