Mary Amato

Mary Amato is an award-winning author and teaching artist with over 25 published works of fiction for young adults and children. Her published novels have been chosen as All-School reads and have been featured on Maryland Public Television, WETA, WAMU, and at the National Book Festival. She is the winner of many awards and grants including the Keisler Poetry Prize, the Maryland Library Association's Author Award, The Buckeye Book Award, The Maud Hart Lovelace Award, The Arizona Young Readers Award, The Beehive Award, and more. Her literary work has also appeared in The Washington Post, Mothering, 100 Word Story, Muse, Teacher, Cicada, New Poets Review, and many more.

Known for being both passionate and inspiring, she has been a featured speaker and workshop leader for the American Library Association, The National Council of Teachers of English, The International Literacy Association, and at schools and libraries around the country.

Her own teaching focuses on the therapeutic value of writing and the ways that writing can help us to understand ourselves and others. For many years, Mary lived and worked in DC and MD. She is now in Essex County, NJ.