About the Author

Saundra Mitchell is the author of SHADOWED SUMMER, THE VESPERTINE, THE SPRINGSWEET, THE ELEMENTALS and MISTWALKER. In non-fiction, she's the author of the THEY DID WHAT!? series for middle grade readers. She's also the editor of the YA anthology DEFY THE DARK. IN 2018, HarlequinTEEN will publish her next anthology, ALL OUT. Writing as Jessa Holbrook, she published her first romantic contemporary YA with Razorbill, WHILE YOU'RE AWAY. In summer 2014, she debuted WILD, her first YA novel writing as Alex Mallory. SHADOWED SUMMER was the 2010 winner of The Society of Midland Authors Book Award for Children's Fiction and a 2010 Edgar® Award Nominee. It was chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection and an ALAN Pick in 2009. Her short story "Ready to Wear" was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize after appearing in Vestal Review Issue 27. Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in anthologies including A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS, FORETOLD, GRIM, TRUTH & DARE and DEAR BULLY. For twenty years, she was the head screenwriter and an executive producer with Dreaming Tree Films on their various teen filmmaking programs, including the largest teen filmmaking program in the United States, Fresh Films. They produced more than four hundred films from her screenplays, and she earned Academy Award eligibility ten times during her tenure. In other arenas, Ms. Mitchell was interviewed by the New York Times and the BBC for her part in exposing the Kaycee Nicole hoax, and she's been tapped by morning radio shows all over the United States as a guest expert on Urban Legends & Folklore. In her free time, she enjoys fandom, studying history, papermaking, and spending time with her wife and her daughters.