Elana K. Arnold (she/her)
“As a kid for whom the world felt out of control and uncertain, books were a place where things made sense. My work is to continue to make sense of the world through telling stories, and I hope that young people can feel seen, understood, and empowered through engaging with my books and presentations.”
Biography
Elana K. Arnold is the author of many books for and about children and teens. Her novel, Damsel was a 2018 Michael L. Printz Honor award winner. Her novel What Girls Are Made Of was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, among other honors. Her middle grade novel A Boy Called Bat was a 2018 Global Read Aloud selection. Elana’s books have been listed on numerous best lists and earned many awards, including Junior Library Guild Selections, an ALAN pick, several selections for the Rise: A Feminist Book Project, a Westchester Fiction Award, a Bank Street Book of the Year, and a Gold Medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award.
Elana holds a BA in comparative literature from the University of California at Irvine and a Master’s degree in English and creative writing/fiction from UC Davis, where she has taught creative writing and adolescent literature.
In addition to her work as a writer, Elana is an avid lover of animals and makes her home among a menagerie of them. She teaches in the MFAC program at Hamline University and lives in Southern California.
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