Award-Winning Author Ellen Jackson

OVERVIEW: Small but usually on a diet. On the planet Jupiter I'd weigh 319 lbs.

I grew up as a middle child, sandwiched between two brothers--Michael Jackson (no, not that one) and David Jackson (older, wiser, and unfortunately stronger) and a very disturbed cocker spaniel.

BORN: On April 27th in the days of woolly mammoths in Burbank, California. My mother worked for Walt Disney Studios in an office located at the corner of Minnie Avenue and Dopey Drive.

WHERE I LIVE NOW: Santa Barbara, California, about a block from a very nice (and often deserted) beach.

HOBBIES: I like to read, dance with my dog, collect rocks, play the recorder, hike among the redwoods, and make collages.

CHILDHOOD: As a child, more than anything, I wanted to be a writer. But every time I wrote a story, my third grade teacher would say with a certain tone, "That's nice, Ellen, but you have to indent!" Indent? I decided I'd better give up writing until I learned the basics. But today I can honestly say I indent as well as J.K. Rowling.

FAMILY: One very smart husband (Roger), two talented stepchildren (Kyle and Megan), one cute dog (Abigail Ingersoll Jackson-Schlueter), and two amazing best friends (Cookie and Kathy). I'm a distant relative of Stonewall Jackson, a brilliant but eccentric Civil War general who liked to suck on lemons.

INTERESTS: Writing, playing music, tidepooling, looking for shark’s egg cases and little octopusses, sitting quietly on the banks of a stream, reading about plants and animals, stars and galaxies.

EDUCATION: I was a Psychology/History/Philosophy major who ended up with a B.A. in English (UCLA), Teaching Accreditation (UCLA), and an M.A. in Counseling (California Family Study Center) with a specialty in early childhood development.

PROFESSIONAL: I've worked as an elementary school teacher, curriculum specialist, curriculum author, editor, and award-winning author of children's books. I volunteer at the library and at a local homeless shelter.

MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES: Sleeping in a room where the walls were crawling with large tarantulas (Galapagos Islands). Learning to sing and dance in a gorilla suit (for a play). Watching the sun rise from the top of the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico.

FAVORITE THINGS: Weather–when it rains and is sunny at the same time. Food–my mother’s chilli, potato salad, cinnamon raisin bagels. Holidays–Halloween and Valentine’s Day. Writers–Annie Dillard, Joseph Campbell, Chet Raymo, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jack Kornfield, Oliver Sacks, Diane Ackerman, Jared Diamond, A.S. Byatt, Carolyn See, Wally Lamb, the Lesters–Helen and Julius, Patricia Polacco, Julia Cunningham, and many, many more.

FAVORITE BIG WORD: Gobsmacked as in "I don't believe it. I’m absolutely gobsmacked!" I also like bodacious, dumbfangled, iatrogenic. Because I like being a writer so much, Monday is my favorite day of the week.

WORST FAULT: I spend lots of time thinking about all the bad things that might happen that I can’t do anything about, such as a surprise attack of army ants or the sun going supernova. I use parentheses too much (and sometimes forget to close them.

If you would like to know what I was like as a child, go to Childhood Diary.