Sharon Creech

While Sharon Creech grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, she frequently visited her cousins in Quincy, Lewis County, Kentucky, a location that has found a presence in many of her books under the name of “Bybanks,” Kentucky. Creech went to college in the U.S., where she developed an interest in story-telling, later moving to England where she would teach secondary school English and writing. Creech wrote two novels for adults, The Recital (1990) and Nickel Malley (1991), which were published in the U.K., before starting to write children’s books. Her work in children’s literature has received many awards. Most notably, her book Walk Two Moons (1994) won the American Newbery Medal in 1995 from the American Library Association, and the Children’s Book Award for long novels in the U.K. The Wanderer was a runner-up for the Newbery, and won the Parents’ Choice Award in the U.S. Overall, Creech has written twenty-two books and one play. She now lives in the United States, having returned from England in 1998 after being abroad for eighteen years.