Biography

Erin Entrada Kelly received the 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, the 2017 APALA Award for The Land of Forgotten Girls, and the 2016 Golden Kite Honor Award for Blackbird Fly, among other honors. She is also the author and illustrator of the Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey series.

She is a New York Times–bestseller whose work has been translated into several languages. Her fifth book, Lalani of the Distant Sea, was a finalist for the 2020 Mythopoetic Award for Children’s Fantasy and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Public Library, The Horn Book, Booklist, BookPage, and others.

Before becoming a children’s author, Erin worked as a journalist and magazine editor. She received numerous awards for community service journalism, feature writing, and editing from the Louisiana Press Association and the Associated Press.

Erin has a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies and liberal arts from McNeese State University and an MFA from Rosemont College. She lives in Delaware. She teaches in the MFA programs at Hamline University and Rosemont College. She also teaches fiction with Gotham Writers Workshop.

Erin is Filipina-American and currently lives in Delaware.