Jennifer A. Nielsen

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Young adult author, Jennifer Nielsen, was born and raised in northern Utah, where she still lives today with her husband, three children, and a dog that won’t play fetch. She is the author or numerous fantasy series for teen readers, including the acclaimed Ascendance trilogy.

She is a former speech teacher, theater director, and enjoyed a brief but disastrous career as a door-to-door pollster. In her spare time, Jennifer tends to panic, wondering what she has forgotten to do that has allowed her any spare time. Jennifer loves the smell of rainy days, hot chocolate, and old books, preferably all at once.

Jennifer has always loved reading and for most of her childhood, kept a tall stack of books at the side of her bed. She loved the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown series’, but her favorite childhood book was The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, part of the Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken.

Author's Comment: My absolute favorite book as a child was The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. I reread that book more times than I could count and thrilled each time with the danger, suspense, and heroism of Bonnie, her cousin Sylvia, and their friend, Simon. I was also a big fan of the Hardy Boys books (not Nancy Drew – she was never in "real" trouble), The Outsider (by SE Hinton), and A Wrinkle in Time (by Madeleine L'Engle).  Looking back, it was the danger that lit my imagination more than anything else, but also the mystery, the strong characters, and the intensity of action. That definitely has carried over into my own writing.

Nationality: American