Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky (born June 24, 1944) is an American children's writer who also writes for adults under the names Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Her children's books include several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, Wolves of the Beyond, and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. Her awards include Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, National Jewish Book Award, and Newbery Honor. Kathryn Lasky grew up in Indianapolis, descendant of a line of Russian Jews. She is married to Christopher Knight, with whom she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in early childhood education from Wheelock College.She was the 2011 winner of the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature.She is the author of over one hundred books. Her most notable book series is Guardians of Ga’Hoole, which has more than 8 millions copies printed. Her books have been translated into 19 languages around the world.Her adult nonfiction work includes the 2011 book, Silk and Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider, a biography of the arachnologist Greta Binford, and the 2017 bestseller Night Witches, the story of Soviet women pilots of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment in WWII.