Rebecca Stead
I grew up in New York City, where I was lucky enough to go to an elementary school where I could sit on a windowsill, or even under a table, and read a book during the day. On those windowsills, under those tables, I fell in love with books.
Reading books made me want to write.
But I didn’t believe I could be a writer. Instead, I became a lawyer who dreamed of writing. I got married. I had two sons. And then, one day, I went to a bookstore (an independent bookstore) and bought some books that I remembered loving when I was a kid. I read them again. Not long after that, I began to write.
Twenty years later, I’ve written nine books for young people. I’m not a fast writer, but I’ve learned to embrace my process. Sometimes people ask me how to begin putting words on the page. Every writer discovers their own answer to this question, but my advice is this: Do not wait for perfect words. Welcome the words that show up. They are inviting you into another world. The most important thing to know about writing is that there are no rules.
My books
- When You Reach Me, winner of the Newbery Medal and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Fiction Award, and a New York Times Notable book for Children.
- Liar & Spy, Guardian Children’s Fiction Prizewinner, Carnegie Medal finalist (UK), and New York Times Notable Book for Children.
- First Light, named a Best Book for Teens by the New York Public Library and a Junior Library Guild selection.
- Goodbye Stranger, a Boston Globe/Horn Book Fiction Honor and Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazza finalist (Italy).
- Bob (co-written with Wendy Mass), Mythopoeic Society book award winner and Cartwheel book award-winner for best non-human character.
- The Lost Library (with Wendy Mass), named Amazon’s #1 best book for kids (2023).
- The List of Things That Will Not Change, one of NPR’s “Books We Love,” and Time Magazine’s Top Ten Books of the Year for children.
- Anything, illustrated by Gracey Zhang, coming from Chronicle Books in April 2025.
- The Experiment, coming from Feiwel & Friends in October 2025.
Interviews
A few interviews about my books, my childhood, and my writing process:
(“Yeah, I like to talk about weirdness.”)
(“Now I feel like my regular, struggling self”)
(“On many days, I don’t sit down to write at all.”)
(“And one day I just lost my sense of the book’s internal logic.”)
(“Guess who I’m writing a book with?”)
(“With Her Parents Divorcing, A Child Makes ‘The List Of Things That Will Not Change’”)