Meet the authors of the ten books shortlisted for the 2013 Teen Reader’s Choice Award. The award winner will be announced on 14 May 2013.

This year’s contending titles include a dystopian novel set in a futuristic Chicago where society is divided into five factions; a smart romance novel of life and death and the people caught in between; and a novel inspired by Manx, Irish, and Scottish legends of beautiful but deadly fairy horses.

Beth Revis author of Across the Universe

Beth Revis, a native of North Carolina, grew up in the Appalachian Mountains with a cemetery in her backyard. Despite this wildly successful debut, Revis’s path to publication was a hard-fought one, and she has the ten manuscripts before Across the Universe to prove it.

A former high-school English teacher, Beth currently lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and two massive dogs; she regularly forces them all to watch reruns of Firefly and Doctor Who. Visit her at https://www.bethrevis.com/

Vera Brosgol author of Anya’s Ghost

Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia, and emigrated with her family to the United States as a child. She received a diploma in Classical Animation from Sheridan College, and spent many years working in feature animation. Her first graphic novel, Anya’s Ghost, was published in 2011 by First Second Books and won an Eisner Award.

She lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves knitting and riding her bike. Vera can be found online at https://www.verabee.com/

Ruta Sepetys author of Between Shades of Gray

Born in Detroit, the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee, Ruta was raised in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. She earned a B.S. in International Finance from Hillsdale College. While overseas, she studied at the Centre d’études Européennes in Toulon, France and at the ICN Graduate Business School in Nancy, France.

Following graduation Sepetys moved to Los Angeles. Between Shades of Gray, about the genocide of Baltic people after the Soviet occupation in 1941, was critically acclaimed and translated into over 30 different languages.  Ruta currently lives with her family in the hills of Tennessee but you can visit her at http://rutasepetys.com/

Moira Young author of Blood Red Road

Moira was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. According to the author, she inherited her storytelling genes from a Cornish Methodist grandfather, who was a travelling boy preacher known as Sunny Jim. Blood Red Road, was published in 2011 to international critical acclaim. It won a host of literary prizes in Canada, the USA, France and the UK, including the Costa Children’s Book Award 2012. For more information regarding Moira and her career please visit http://moirayoung.com/

Veronica Roth author of Divergent

Veronica Roth, born on August 19, 1988 in New York City, wrote Divergent while on winter break in her senior year at Northwestern University. She found an agent by the following March.

Her career took off rapidly with the success of Divergent a 2011 Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book, a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2011 and Winner of YALSA 2012 Teens’ Top Ten.

She married photographer Nelson Fitch in 2011. They reside in the Chicago area. You can visit her online at https://veronicarothbooks.com

John Green author of The Fault in Our Stars

John Michael Green, born August 24, 1977, graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 with a double major in English and religious studies. After graduating, Green spent five months working as a student chaplain at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, while enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He intended to become an Episcopal priest, but his experiences of working in a hospital with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses inspired him to become an author.

Green lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his wife, Sarah Urist Green, whom he married on May 21, 2006. Green has obsessive-compulsive disorder and has discussed his struggles with mental illness extensively on YouTube. You can join the millions who follow John online at http://www.johngreenbooks.com/

Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler authors of The Future of Us

Jay Asher was born in Arcadia, California, on September 30, 1975. He attended Cuesta Community College and later California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he left during his junior year in order to pursue his career as a writer. He spent years trying to kick-start a career writing children’s picture books and has worked in various establishments, including an independent bookstore, an outlet bookstore, a chain bookstore, and two public libraries. When he is not writing, Jay plays guitar and goes camping.

You can visit Asher online at http://jayasher.blogspot.com/

Carolyn Mackler, from an early age, was always interested in writing. Beginning at age four she recorded stories on a tape recorder, and dictated her stories to her mother who wrote them down for her.

After graduating from Vassar College, Mackler briefly lived in Seattle, Washington. Upon returning to New York City she temporarily worked at Ms. magazine. In 2011, Mackler and Jay Asher, co-authored The Future of Us.

Mackler lives in Manhattan with her husband and their two children. You can check her out online at https://www.carolynmackler.com/

Ransom Riggs author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Ranson grew up on a farm on the Eastern shore of Maryland and also in a little house by the beach in Englewood, Florida. He started writing stories at a young age, on an old typewriter. One year, upon receiving a camera for Christmas, he became obsessed with photography.

He lives in Santa Monica, CA, with his wife, fellow novelist Tahereh Mafi. You can visit Ransom online at http://ransomriggs.com/

Maggie Stiefvater author of The Scorpio Races

Margaret “Maggie” Stiefvater was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. As a child, she wanted to be a fighter pilot and race-car driver and was a voracious reader who enjoyed writing. By age 16, she was submitting manuscripts to publishers. By the time she had entered college, she had already written over 30 novels. In her spare time Maggie plays several musical instruments, including the bagpipes, and makes art.

Stiefvater is married and lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with her husband, two children, some cows, five dogs, a horse, an insane cat, and a number of miniature goats. You can visit her, and maybe the goats, online at https://maggiestiefvater.com/

Kenneth Oppel author of This Dark Endeavour

Oppel was born in Port Alberni, and spent his childhood in Victoria, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 1985, Oppel wrote his first book while at St. Michaels University School. Oppel forwarded the newly completed manuscript to a family friend who knew Roald Dahl, who in turn recommended it to his agent. Oppel went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree in cinema studies and English at Trinity College in the University of Toronto; it was here that he wrote his second novel.

Oppel moved to England and wrote a number of books during his stay. From 1995 to 1996, Oppel worked as an editor at Quill and Quire, the trade magazine of the Canadian publishing industry.

Oppel and his wife Philippa Sheppard, a Shakespeare Scholar and Instructor at the University of Toronto, live in Toronto with three children, Sophia, Nate and Julia. You can visit him online at http://kennethoppel.blogspot.com/