Nancy Farmer


Nancy Farmer is an American writer of children's and young adult books and science fiction. She has written three Newbery Honor books and won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The [House of the Scorpion], published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2002.
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Early life

Farmer was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned her B.A. at Reed College and later studied chemistry and entomology at the University of California, Berkeley. She enlisted in the Peace Corps, and subsequently worked in Mozambique and Rhodesia, where she studied biological methods of controlling the tsetse fly between 1975 and 1978.

Career

Farmer began writing in the 1980s, at the age of 40, while still living in Zimbabwe. She began writing stories in Africa. It was for one of those stories that she won the Writers of the Future contest, which enabled her to move back to the United States and begin writing full-time. Her experiences in Africa would go on to influence her writing.

Personal life

Farmer met her future husband, Harold Farmer, at the University of Rhodesia. They married after a week-long courtship. As of 2010, Farmer lives in Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains with her husband. They have one son, Daniel.

Novels

Lorelei: The Story of a Bad Cat The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm Tapiwa's Uncle Do You Know Me, illustrated by Shelley Jackson The Ear, the Eye and the Arm The Warm Place A Girl Named Disaster The House of the Scorpion A New Year's Tale – paperback and e-book for adultsThe Lord of Opium – sequel to ''The House of the Scorpion''

The Sea of Trolls trilogy

The Sea of Trolls The Land of the Silver Apples

Picture books

Runnery Granary, illus. Jos. A. Smith – A Mystery Must Be Solved—Or the Grain is Lost!Casey Jones's Fireman: The Story of Sim Webb, illus. James Bernardin Clever Ali, illus. Gail De Marcken

Short stories

Awards

"The Mirror"
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
A Girl Named Disaster
The House of the Scorpion
The Land of the Silver Apples