Gail Carson Levine

Gail Carson Levine was born September 17, 1947 in New York, New York. Levine is an American author for young adult books. Levine’s father, David, owned a commercial art studio and her mother, Sylvia, was a teacher who wrote plays for her students to perform. Levine credits her parents for her imagination. Early on, Levine loved to draw but as the years went on she knew it was her passion to write. Levine stated that, "… my painting brought me to writing for children in earnest. I took a class in writing and illustrating children's books and found that I was much more interested in the writing than in the illustrating.” Levine’s first published book was Ella Enchanted (which won a Newbery Honor in 1998). Levine has written many fairy tales with a twist; for example, her Princess Tales series is about clever heroes and heroines that go on adventures. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, The Wish, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly, Betsy Who Cried Wolf , and the six Princess Tales books. Levine is married to a man named David and they live in New York.