William Alexander

William Alexander was born in Miami and now lives in Vermont. As a small child, he honestly thought that his Cuban-American family came from Atlantis. He used to be an actor. Then he started writing fiction after a spinal injury made acting more difficult. Parts of his spine are held together with titanium, which means that he is technically a cyborg. He tried to squeeze everything that he knew and loved about theater into his first novel, Goblin Secrets, which won the National Book Award in 2012. Ursula K. Le Guin said of Goblin Secrets that, "I wish I had read it when I was eleven." William was eleven years old when he first read A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. The books that you devour at that age change everything. His books have won the Earphones Award, the Eleanor Cameron Award, the Teacher Favorites Award, the Librarian Favorites Award, two Junior Library Guild Selections, and two CBC Best Children's Book of the Year Awards; they have also been longlisted for the International Latino Book Award and shortlisted for the Mythopoetic Award, the Cybils Award, and the Calvino Prize. He went to school at Oberlin College, the University of Vermont, and the Clarion Workshop. He has taught at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Hamline University, the Loft, and Shared Worlds. The cat in this picture is named Pepper. (Website: www.willalex.net)