Donna Gephart

Donna Gephart was chosen as the 2012 Thurber House Children's Writer in Residence, where she'll spend a month teaching writing to young people and working on her next novel.

Her first book, As If Being 12-3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President! won the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award. How to Survive Middle School, her second novel, received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal and landed on the Texas, New York, Illinois and Louisiana state reading lists.

Her newest book, Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen, is about a 12-year-old girl determined to get on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! It's received excellent reviews, including a starred review from Kirkus. It's been heartily endorsed by Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings.

In addition to writing books for children, Donna has worked as an editor at a greeting card company. She's also sold hundreds of greeting cards, magazine articles, essays, stories and poems to dozens of publications, including the following Family Circle Magazine, Parents Magazine, Scholastic's Storyworks, Highlights for Children annd the L.A. Times Newspaper Kids' Page.

Donna enjoys speaking at schools, libraries, conferences and book festivals across the country.

Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donna now lives in South Florida with her husband, two sons, two dogs and a cranky old cat.