Welcome!
I’m a mother, a writer, a lover of farmstands and footpaths, skyscrapers and seasides, a loud but terrible singer, a theatergoer, and a classic literature geek. I grew up in a small town in Arizona. As a teen, I loaded up a truck and drove myself to San Francisco.
I’ve spent my life reading books: while living in Fukuoka and Manhattan, while studying at Oxford, and while working in education technology. Today, I read and write books in San Francisco, where I live with my husband, our children, and an absurdly adorable dog.
You can usually find me hiking in the wilds of San Francisco, ushering my kids to chorus and musical theater classes, or desperately trying to get a full night's sleep.
I invite you to sign up for freebies, sneak peeks, giveaways and updates from me (a couple times per year).
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Photo by Olga Litmanova
Favorite picture Books
Some of my favorite picture books are Mina, A Child of Books, Julian is a Mermaid, The Night Gardener, Tiny Star, Unbound: The Life + Art of Judith Scott, Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks, Cloth Lullaby, Music for the End of Time, How to Make a Bird, Chu’s Day, Carl’s Masquerade, Fireboat, Balderdash!, Six Dots, Soldier Song, All the World, Inside/Outside, The Composer is Dead, Olivia, Madeline, The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown, and Hello, Lighthouse,
I decided I wanted to write for children after reading Enormous Smallness, by Matthew Burgess, in 2015.
favorite middle grade books
Some of my favorite middle grade books are: Skellig, Amber and Clay, The Book of Boy, Howl’s Moving Castle, King and the Dragonflies, Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself, The Beast Player, Ella Enchanted, All the Wrong Questions, Skunk and Badger, Queen of the Sea, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Pay Attention, Carter Jones!, Simon Sort of Says, Number the Stars, The Seeds of America Trilogy, If You Come Softly, When You Reach Me, The View From Saturday, The Penderwicks, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Saturdays, Anne of Green Gables, Mary Poppins, James and the Giant Peach, and the Little House books.
The first book I loved was Charlotte’s Web. I read it over and over.
The longest book I’ve ever read (which is a book for grownups) was Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. I read the book over four years, with a study group.
Photo by Camden Avery
Contact me
I’m represented by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Birch Path Literary.
Here’s my press kit.
Please contact me below or at authorjastirling(at)gmail(dot)com.