Jessica Day George
Quick Facts
Biography
Jessica Day George is an American author who currently lives in Utah. She is a New York Times bestselling author of Young Adult fantasy novels, and she received the 2007 Whitney Award for Best Book by a New Author for Dragon Slippers. Having attended Brigham Young University, George is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Biography
Jessica Day George was raised in Idaho. She later majored in Humanities and Comparative Literature at Brigham Young University (BYU). George also studied German, Norwegian, and Old Norse at BYU; she studied these languages so she could read Viking sagas in the original written language. Before she began writing full-time, she worked as a librarian and a bookseller. Her first publishing offer came from Bloomsbury Publishing for her first draft of Dragonskin Slippers. Dragonskin Slippers was published in 2007; she still continues to write for Bloomsbury Publishing. George also runs the website "Bookshop Talk", where she organizes and posts book reviews written by bloggers. George has been the keynote speaker for writer's workshops and teen writing conference. In 2009, George was profiled in the bimonthly periodical magazine Mormon Artist.
Her books and current published series include the Princess series,the Dragonskin Slippers series, and the Castle Glower series, as well as the stand-alone book Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.Many of her stories are adaptations of classic fairy tales, and have received positive reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist Online, and others. George was on the New York Times bestseller list in May 2013 for Wednesdays in the Tower.
George is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Awards
Year | Organization | Award title, Category | Work | Result | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Whitney Award | Best Novel by a New Author | Dragonskin Slippers | Won | |
Best Novel | Nominated | ||||
Speculative Fiction | Nominated | ||||
2008 | Whitney Award | Youth Fiction | Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow | Nominated | |
2009 | South Carolina Association of School Librarians | South Carolina Young Adult Book Award | Princess of the Midnight Ball | Nominated | |
Whitney Award | Youth Fiction | Nominated | |||
2011 | Children's Literature Association of Utah | Beehive Book Award for Young Adult Fiction | Princess of the Midnight Ball | Won | |
Whitney Award | Youth Fiction—Speculative | Tuesdays at the Castle | Nominated | ||
Utah Center for the Book | Utah Book Award—Children’s | Tuesdays at the Castle | Won | ||
2013 | Whitney Award | Middle Grade | Wednesdays in the Tower | Nominated |
Podcasts
She has contributed to the writing podcast Writing Excuses as a guest author several times.