Adam Gidwitz (he/him)
“I love to talk about a wide variety of subjects with all sorts of kids: tough questions about history, identity, and morality through The Inquisitor’s Tale and my WWII spy novels, Max in the House of Spies and Max in the Land of Lies; mythical creatures and learning about different cultures via my Unicorn Rescue Society series; and, the kids’ favorite, telling scary fairy tales through my Grimm books. I always share inspiring stories about my journey–from being a permanent resident of the principal’s office in middle school to being an author. And I love answering questions about the writing process–like how to get over writer’s block, where to find ideas, and why I wrote all these weird books in the first place.”
Biography
As a kid, Adam spent most of his time playing with action figures, shooting hoops, and going to the principal’s office.
Somehow, he became a teacher, working with first, second, and fifth graders, as well as teaching high school English and philosophy.
While teaching, he told a scary Grimm fairy tale to a group of second graders, and one of them asked him to turn the story into a book. So he did: A Tale Dark & Grimm, which hit the New York Times bestseller list and won an EB White Honor.
He then wrote two companion novels: In a Glass Grimmly and The Grimm Conclusion. He followed the Grimm trilogy up with a Star Wars novel: The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi, and then the bestselling, Newbery Honor book The Inquisitor’s Tale. He then created the Unicorn Rescue Society series, co-writing the books with award-winning authors like Joseph Bruchac, David Bowles, Emma Otheguy, and Hena Khan. Most recently, he published the WWII spy novels Max in the House of Spies and Max in the Land of Lies, which became New York Times and USA Today bestsellers.
Adam also helped make an animated adaptation of A Tale Dark & Grimm for Netflix, which was a top ten watched show in more than forty countries around the world.
Now he’s gone back to his roots, and in addition to writing more books, he’s created a podcast called Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest, where he retells those same weird and scary fairy tales that got his career started in the first place. It’s won many awards for best podcast, a Parent’s Choice Gold Award, and hit number one on Apple’s Kids and Family podcast list.
Adam currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, his daughter, and their dog, Lucy Goosey.
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