Sara Shepard

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Sara Shepard is an American author of young adult novels. She graduated from NYU and has an MFA from Brooklyn College. Sara's 'Pretty Little Liars' novels were inspired by her upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line. After living in New York and Arizona, Sara and her husband, along with their pet dogs, recently moved back to the Philadelphia region. When she's not busy writing, Sara says, she spends most of her time eating chips and cereal straight out of the bag. She is also a self-professed hypochondriac, and proud of it: she often thinks she has a brain tumor when it's really just a headache. To date, Sara has written three stand-alone novels for young adults, and two extensive series, totaling nineteen books (with many more on the way!).

Author's Comment: Q: To what other writers would you compare your writing style? Who do you enjoy reading? What books influenced you to become a writer? A: It's difficult for me to read my writing objectively and try to compare it to other writers' work, especially writers I admire. I primarily read fiction... A few that inspired me for their voice, setting, plot, or simply for that fantastic, magical, unclassifiable thing fiction does included 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami, 'The Edible Woman' by Margaret Atwood, 'American Pastoral' by Philip Roth... As for books that influenced me to be an author, who knows? I wrote stories on a big drawing pad at the coffee table in my living room when I was eight, so it's hard to say what book had really started me off. I'll say one thing, though: when my teachers handed out summer reading lists at the end of the school year, I never groaned and put it off.

Nationality: American