About

Liz Garton Scanlon grew up in a tiny little town in the mountains of Colorado, was a teenager in a tiny little town on a lake in Wisconsin, and has lived most of her adult life on the edge of the hill country in Austin, Texas. 

Growing up, she read all the Judy Blume and Nancy Drew books, plus everything her grandfather got in his book-of-the-month club. Her favorite picture books included Patrick Will Grow by Gladys Baker Bond, The Big Tidy Up by Norah Smaridge, Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, and Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (ku-plink, ku-plank, ku-plunk). 

Liz wrote an exceptional autobiography in 2^nd grade, earned degrees in journalism and English, edited a poetry journal, taught at a community college, created corporate marketing communications, and waited tables at a whole bunch of restaurants before landing happily in the world of children’s literature. 

She has two daughters, and it was reading with them that inspired her to write for kids. Her first book was A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, and published in 2004. Her next book, All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee, won a Caldecott Honor and numerous other accolades. Those books paved the way for many more. 

Liz and her pal Audrey Vernick have joyfully co-authored several books, including the hilarious Bob, Not Bob, illustrated by Matthew Cordell. And she’s worked with many supremely gifted illustrators, including Glasser, Frazee, and Cordell, of course, but also Arthur Howard, Vanessa Brantley Newton, Stephanie Graegin, Ashley Wolff, Hadley Hooper, Chris Raschka, Lee White, Frann Preston Gannon, Olivier Tallec, Simone Shin, Kevan Atteberry, Diana Sudyka, Sean Qualls, Chuck Groenink, Lynnor Bontigao, Dung Ho, Dominique Ramsey, Fiona Lee and more. She thinks she’s the luckiest author alive in this regard. 

Liz is proud to have served on the faculty for Austin Community College, the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Whale Rock Workshops. When she’s not writing or teaching, Liz travels, reads, practices yoga and makes her way through the woods with her dog. 

media kit

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Bios (PDF)