Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins - what an incredible speaker, a really inspirational person. She's a poet, freelance writer, and award winning author of twenty nonfiction titles and 7 New York Times bestselling novels in verse. She’s published articles on subjects ranging from aviation to child abuse to winegrowing. And she mentors other writers through her position as a regional advisor to the Nevada chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Mediabistro.com called her the "bestselling living poet in the U.S." And she really reaches and understands her audience.

For those of you who don’t know, Ellen had a daughter who became addicted to crystal meth. In 2002, her struggle inspired her to begin writing Crank. She’s since written several verse novels, including Burned, Impulse, Identical, Glass, Tricks and Fallout. Her next book will be called Perfect, and we have to wait until September to read it. And it sounds very interesting (and controversial!)

Here she is talking about her newest book, Fallout