Simone Elkeles
Award-winning author
Simone Elkeles was a teen in the 80's and still overuses
words like "grody" and "totally," but resists the urge
to wear blue eye shadow or say "gag me with a spoon." When Simone's
not working diligently on her next young adult/teen novel, she flies all
over the country speaking to high schools, middle schools and junior high
schools about her funny journey into becoming an author (Simone admits she
was a "reluctant reader" when she was a teen) and what it's like
writing books about contemporary teens. She gives valuable writing tips
and will even do point-of-view exercises in her workshops. Simone is hilarious
and is always being told she should be a stand-up comedienne. She spoke
at Teen Read Week at the Schaumburg Public Library last year and Amy Alesio,
the young adult librarian there said, "Simone held the attention of
over 150 junior high students! She has a gift for using humor and great
stories to capture her audience!" For a list of testimonials from teachers
and administrators on Simone's talks, please visit THE BUZZ section of her
website at www.simoneelkeles.com.
For writers groups, Simone also teaches a Boot Camp for Beginning Writers workshop.
Simone had one award-winning YA/teen novel released in 2006, titled HOW TO RUIN A SUMMER VACATION and two more YA/teen novels released in 2007, titled LEAVING PARADISE and HOW TO RUIN MY TEENAGE LIFE.
AWARDS:
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation: (sequel titled How to Ruin my Teenage Life
released in June 2007)
Nominated for ALA (American Library Association) Top Ten Teen book of
the year (2007)
Silver medal in the (IPPY’s) independent publisher book awards in
the Multicultural Children’s fiction category
Finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest
Current finalist in the Aspen Gold book awards
Winner, Chick Lit Stiletto contest in the Young Adult category
Listed in School Library Journal's REMARKABLE READS section
Leaving Paradise:
Book Sense “2007 Summer Picks” List
Video trailer for Leaving Paradise a finalist in the Cameo Book Trailer
Awards(watch it at www.simoneelkeles.com
)
Contact Information:
Email:simone_elkeles@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.simoneelkeles.com
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