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ERIN ENTRADA KELLY
Two-time Newbery Medalist | National Book Award Finalist | NYT bestseller
BOOKS
FOR YOUNGER READERS
Books
About
ABOUT
Short Bio
Erin Entrada Kelly is a two-time Newbery Medalist and National Book Award Finalist whose work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is a New York Times-bestselling author and teaches in the Master's Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Hamline University. She lives in Delaware.
Complete Bio
Erin Entrada Kelly has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including the 2025 Newbery Medal for The First State of Being, 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, the 2023 NAIBA Book of the Year Award for Those Kids From Fawn Creek, and 2017 APALA Award for The Land of Forgotten Girls, among many other honors. She is also a National Book Award Finalist and author/illustrator of Marisol Rainey and Felix Powell, stand-alone stories for younger readers. Her books are New York Times bestsellers.
Before becoming a children's author, Erin worked as a journalist and magazine editor in her home state of Louisiana. She received numerous awards from the Louisiana Press Association and the Associated Press for community service journalism, feature writing, and editing. She has published more than thirty short stories and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Philippines Free Press Award for Short Fiction.
Erin has a bachelor's degree in women's studies and liberal arts from McNeese State University and an MFA in fiction from Rosemont College. She lives in Delaware and teaches in the MFAC program at Hamline University.
FAVORITES
Favorite Animal: Dog
Least Favorite Animal: Frogs
Favorite Pen: Sharpie S-Gel 0.7
Favorite Beatle: George
Favorite Star Trek Captain: Kirk
Favorite Candy: Mike & Ike
Favorite Place: The library
Favorite Colors: Red and yellow
Favorite Filipino Food: Pancit canton
Favorite TV Show: The Twilight Zone with Rod Serling
Favorite Video Game: What Remains of Edith Finch
Favorite Movies: Poltergeist, Aliens, Predator, The Thing, Repeat Performance
Favorite Middle Grade Books: Hurricane Child by Kacen Callendar, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga, See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng
Favorite Young Adult Books: For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome, Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay, The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes
Favorite Books for Adults: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, Lone Women by Victor LaValle, Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Favorite Nonfiction Books: The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day, Queer Ducks by Eliot Schrefer, Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, The Good Girls by Sonia Faleiro
For Teachers
FOR TEACHERS
Interviews
INTERVIEWS
Erin started her career writing short stories for adults.
She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and was a finalist for the Philippines Free Press Award for Short Fiction. Read some of her stories here.
SHORT STORIES
Books
Events
2025 EVENTS
January 4, 2025, All-Day Writing Marathon on Zoom
January 9-19, Hamline MFAC Residency, St. Paul, MN
January 31-February 2, 2025, SCBWI Winter Conference, New York, NY
February 8, Keynote Speaker, Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts
February 11, Virtual Visit with BookBreaks
February 13-14, Appoquinimink School District Visits, DE
February 18-21, Appoquinimink School District Visits, DE
February 24-26, ABA Winter Institute, Denver, CO
March 20, Appoquinimink School District Visits, DE
March 21, Appoquinimink School District Visits, DE
March 22-23, R(ev)ise and Shine Two-Day Virtual Intensive
March 28, Newark Charter School, Newark, DE
April 1-4, Texas Library Association Conference, Dallas, TX
April 5, Kweli Conference Keynote Speaker, New York, NY
April 7, Main Point Books with Jess Callans, Wayne, PA
April 9, Florence County Library, South Carolina
April 11, Carver Cultural Community Center, San Antonio, TX
April 12, San Antonio Book Festival, San Antonio, TX
April 14, ON AGAIN, AWKWARD AGAIN TOUR! with Left Bank Books, St. Louis, MO
April 15, ON AGAIN, AWKWARD AGAIN TOUR! with Andersen's Bookshop, Chicago, IL
April 15, ON AGAIN, AWKWARD AGAIN Book Release!
April 16, ON AGAIN, AWKWARD AGAIN TOUR! with The Silver Unicorn, Boston, MA
April 17, ON AGAIN, AWKWARD AGAIN TOUR! with An Unlikely Story, Boston, MA
April 24, San Mateo County Libraries, San Mateo, CA, Virtual
April 26, Twin Cities Teen Lit Festival, Minneapolis, MN
May 3, YALL West, Santa Monica, CA
May 5, AT LAST SHE STOOD TOUR!, Seattle, WA
May 6, AT LAST SHE STOOD TOUR!, St. Louis, MO
May 6, AT LAST SHE STOOD Book Release!
May 7, AT LAST SHE STOOD TOUR!, Washington, D.C.
May 8, AT LAST SHE STOOD TOUR!, Baltimore, MD
May 9, AT LAST SHE STOOD TOUR!, Doylestown, PA
May 11, Main Point Books with Sawyer Lovett, Wayne, PA
May 15, Cherry Creek Schools, Denver, Colorado
May 17, Gaithersburg Book Festival, Gaithersburg, MD
May 19, Middle Grade Writers Group with Eliot Schrefer, Virtual
June 14-15, Two-Day MFA Workshop, Virtual
June 26-30, American Library Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA
July 5, Backstory Masterclass, Virtual
July 10-22, Hamline MFAC Residency, St. Paul, MN
August 17-22, Highlights Whole Novel Workshop, Milanville, PA
August 26, YOUR TURN, MARISOL RAINEY Book Release!
September 1-5, THE LAST RESORT TOUR!
September 2, THE LAST RESORT Book Release!
September 6, National Book Festival, Washington D.C.
September 10-13, MG Generative Workshop with Laurel Snyder, Highlights, Milanville, PA
October 6-8, National Book Foundation Event, Sam Houston State University, TX
October 25, Boston Book Festival, Boston, MA
October 26-31, Highlights Whole Novel Workshop, Milanville, PA
November 8-9, Texas Book Festival, Austin, TX
November 20-23, NCTE, Denver, CO
CONTACT
Erin loves to hear from readers. Write to her.
For media inquiries, contact Sara Crowe.
For blurb requests, contact Sara Crowe.
For film interest, contact Jason Dravis.
Erin has visited hundreds of schools around the world. To invite Erin to your school, library, or festival, contact The Author Village.
Contact
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