Stephanie Kuehnert is the author of the young adult novels I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE (2008) and BALLADS OF SUBURBIA (2009) published by MTV Books. As a teenager, Stephanie was an avid reader, but she felt like there weren’t a lot of Young Adult books that she identified with. This is what led her to write Young Adult fiction. She wanted tell the kind of stories she was looking to read, to give voice to kids who feel they are outside of the mainstream, and to encourage reluctant readers by writing books about real life that they can relate to.

Stephanie received her MFA at Columbia College Chicago where she was trained as a Story Workshop Method® Instructor. She’s taught and tutored students from fifth grade through college-level, including learning disabled students, using this method. Story Workshop is a lively approach that employs word games and seeing-in-the-mind to help students at all levels discover their voices and develop compelling, effective fiction and nonfiction writing skills.

In BALLADS OF SUBURBIA, the characters write their “ballads.” Using a song lyric as a starting point, they tell about a moment that changed their lives or shaped them into who they are. Stephanie has created a “Ballads Workshop” based from this that allows students to have fun and reflect on their lives while writing a creative personal essay or short story.

In addition to leading writing workshops, Stephanie speaks on numerous writing topics from journaling to the writing process to publishing to her life as a writer. She can tailor her presentations to suit both middle schoolers and high schoolers.

Stephanie Kuehnert lives right outside of Chicago, but is willing to travel for school visits.
 

Contact Information:

Email: stephanie@stephaniekuehnert.com
Website: http://www.stephaniekuehnert.com