AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ANGELICA SHIRLEY CARPENTER

Angelica Shirley Carpenter began writing with her mother, Jean Shirley, in the 1980s. Together they wrote middle-grade biographies: Frances Hodgson Burnett: Beyond the Secret Garden and L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz. After Jean died, Angelica kept writing on her own: Robert Louis Stevenson: Finding Treasure Island; Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass. She also wrote a young adult biography, Born Criminal: Matilda Joslyn Gage, Radical Suffragist and two picture books, The Voice of Liberty and The Secret Gardens of Frances Hodgson Burnett. She also edited a scholarly anthology, In the Garden: Essays in Honor of Frances Hodgson Burnett, based on a conference she convened in Fresno as curator of the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature at California State University. 

Which genre(s) do you write?

PB, MG, YA, Non-Fiction

What are you working on now and what genre is your target audience? 

I have a new YA biography being published by Lerner on Sept. 9: Arm in Arm: The Grimké Sisters' Fight for Abolition and Women's Rights. The target audience is grades 7-12, but it has crossover appeal for undergraduates and adults, too.

What are the links to your socials?

Facebook: Angelica Shirley Carpenter. Website: www.angelicacarpenter.com

What else would you like others to know about you?

This year I chaired the youth track (17 authors) for The San Joaquin Valley Bookfest, which attracted about 750 book fans to Fresno City College on May 3, 2025. See you next year!