JERRY SPINELLI

“…writing is a way of completing my experience. It’s like things that I see and feel have not totally happened to me until I write about them.”

Biographical Information

Spinelli is married to his favorite author, Eileen Spinelli, who serves as his first editor.

He currently lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, although he was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1941.

The author is the father of six and grandfather of sixteen. He has also owned several pet rats.

Spinelli first wanted to be a cowboy, then a baseball player, and finally a writer beginning in 11th grade.

His hobbies include spending time with his grandkids, playing tennis, picking berries, reading, listening to country music, and riding trains.

Education and Early Life

Spinelli attended Gettysburg College, where he started writing short stories and was editor of the school’s literary magazine.

He also attended The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, where he received his MA in 1964.

He served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1966 to 1972.

He became a men’s wear editor for a department store magazine, and he wrote on weekends, lunch breaks, and whenever he could find time.

Famous Works

Space Station Seventh Grade, his first published novel

Stargirl and its companion, Love, Stargirl

Maniac Magee Wringer Loser Crash Milkweed Eggs

Awards and Honors

His novel Maniac Magee, which explores themes of racism and homelessness, won the 1991 Newberry Medal.

Another book, Wringer, tells of a boy trying to overcome peer pressure and was a 1998 Newberry Honor Book.

-Jerry Spinelli

“I find that I hesitate to put that label on myself, to define myself by what I do for a living. After all, I also pick berries and touch ponies and skim flat stones over water and marvel at the stars and breathe deeply and grin from ear to ear and save the best part for last. I've always done these things. Which is to say, I never had to become anything. Or anyone. I always, already, was. Call me a berry-picking, pony-touching star-marveler.”

Works Cited

www.jerryspinelli.com http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/

contributor/jerry-spinelli http://www.biblio.com/jerry-

spinelli~127847~author http://www.clickinks.com/Clickinks-

Biographies-The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Jerry-Spinelli.html