A Little Bit About Bestselling Author Ellen Potter

I remember the exact moment when I knew, without a doubt, that I wanted to be a writer. I was eleven years old and I was in my school library. The school librarian always recommended books to me, and that day she suggested Harriet the Spy. I picked it up and began to read the first chapter. In a flash, I decided that the best books in the world were written for eleven-year-olds! Sadly, my twelfth birthday was just around the corner. So I reasoned that the only thing to do was to grow up and write books for kids, which is pretty much what happened (after many years and piles of rejection letters).

Since then, I’ve written more than 20 award-winning novels for children and young adults, including Hither & Nigh, Olivia Kidney, Slob, Big Foot and Little Foot, Piper Green and The Fairy Tree, The Humming Room, Pish Posh, and The Kneebone Boy. Several of my books have been chosen by New York Public Library as a Best 100 Books for Children, and have appeared on numerous State Reading Lists. My non-fiction writing book, Spilling Ink, A Young Writer’s Handbook, co-authored with Anne Mazer, was also chosen by New York Public Library as a Best 100 Books for Children.

These days I live near Syracuse, NY, with my family.