Kelly Barnhill (author)

Kelly Barnhill is an American author of children's literature, fantasy, and science fiction. Her novel The Girl Who Drank the Moon was awarded the 2017 Newbery Medal.^[1][2][3]

Writing Career

Barnhill has received writing fellowships from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board and was a 2015 McKnight Writing Fellow in Children’s Literature. She is the winner of the Parents Choice Gold Award, the Texas Library Association Bluebonnet award, and a Charlotte Huck Honor. She also was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, the Andre Norton Award and the PEN/USA literary prize. In 2016, her novella The Unlicensed Magician received the World Fantasy Award for Long Fiction.^[4]

In 2017, her novel The Girl Who Drank the Moon was awarded the John Newbery Medal by the American Library Association.^[1][2][3]

Barnhill's books include The Unlicensed Magician, The Witch's Boy, Iron-Hearted Violet, The Mostly True Story of Jack, The Girl Who Drank The Moon, and several non-fiction titles for children.^[5]

Personal Life

Barnhill is a graduate of South High School in Minneapolis^[6] and St. Catherine University in St. Paul. Her husband, Ted Barnhill, is an architect. They have three children.

Before finding success as an author, Barnhill studied creative writing as an undergraduate, worked for the National Park Service, and was trained as a volunteer firefighter. She began writing short stories after the birth of her second child, and these stories were eventually expanded into full-length novels.^[7]

She currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

References