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Shelley Pearsall

I grew up in a blue-collar suburb of Cleveland called Parma where I used to write stories in a bedroom closet (aka my writer’s office). I tried to get my first novel – a 40 page handwritten story called “I am the Only One Left” - published when I was thirteen. As you can probably guess, it was rejected!

It took about twenty years before I finally had my first published book, Trouble Don’t Last (Knopf, 2002). Since then, I’ve written four more novels.

Besides writing books for intermediate and teen readers, I’ve written a lot of other things over the years – plays, ghost stories, non-fiction articles, tour brochures, and opinion columns. In college, I even had the chance to write a piece for the New York Times.

Since I often write about history, people always want to know about my own history. I’m the great-great granddaughter of a Civil War veteran from Ohio. There have also been Iowa pioneers in my past – as well as cooks, glassblowers, farmers, and shoemakers.

Today, I live in a small village in northeastern Ohio called Silver Lake with my husband Mike, stepson Ethan, and cat Marbles. I spend a lot of time writing books, visiting schools as a guest author, and leading writing workshops for kids. If you want to know more, check out my website: www.shelleypearsall.com.

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