Winifred Conkling

Winifred Conkling (she/her) studied journalism in college and later worked as a writer and editor at various newspapers and magazines. She has written more than 30 non-fiction books for grown-ups and a number of highly regarded non-fiction books for young people, including SYLVIA AND AKI (covering a lesser-known story of educational segregation), PASSENGER ON THE PEARL (a story of slavery), RADIOACTIVE! (about female scientific pioneers), and VOTES FOR WOMEN (the story of female emancipation in the USA).

She has loved writing since third grade when she taught herself to type, and she went on to become a journalist and author of adult non-fiction books, rediscovering her love of children’s books when she became a mother. She has also taught reading to inmates at a maximum-security prison, run a marathon, spent the night in a dung hut with Samburu warriors, and volunteered with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India.

She lives in Northern Virginia and has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of the Fine Arts.

Visit her website at winifredconkling.com.