Christine Brodien-Jones

THE SHORT VERSION (68 words):
Christine Brodien-Jones studied writing at Emerson College in Boston and has been a journalist, an editor and a teacher. She is the author of THE OWL KEEPER (Random House/​Delacorte Press, 2010) and THE SCORPIONS OF ZAHIR (Random House/​Delacorte Press, 2012), and is represented by Stephen Fraser of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. Christine and her husband Peter divide their time between Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Deer Isle, Maine.


THE MEDIUM VERSION (174 words)
Growing up an only child in LeRoy, New York, Christine Brodien-Jones spent her time tramping through her neighborhood, leaky fountain-pen in hand, inventing fantastic stories, on the look-out for mysterious Other Worlds. Friday nights she watched films like “Dracula” and “Creature from the Black Lagoon” at her small-town movie theater.

After studying creative writing at Emerson College, Boston, she traveled to Europe where she lived in Spain, England and The Netherlands, and met her husband Peter. Reading to her two young sons, she found herself drawn back into the world of children’s fantasy. In 1992 her first book, THE DREAMKEEPERS, a middle-grade novel, was published.

Christine has worked as a free-lance journalist, editor and teacher. She now writes full-time in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her post-apocalyptic children's fantasy THE OWL KEEPER (Random House/​Delacorte Press) was published in 2010 and came out in paperback in April 2011. Christine's next novel, THE SCORPIONS OF ZAHIR, an adventure-fantasy set in Morocco, will be published in 2012. She is represented by Stephen Fraser of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.


THE LONG VERSION (322 words)
Christine Brodien-Jones grew up in LeRoy, New York. An only child, she lived inside her head, reading books in trees and tramping through the neighborhood, leaky fountain pen in hand, inventing fantastic stories. She was always on the lookout for those mysterious “other worlds.” Friday nights she could be found in the balcony of the downtown theater with a large bag of popcorn, watching thrillers like “Dracula” and “Creature from the Black Lagoon.”

After studying creative writing at Emerson College, Boston, Christine traveled to Europe where she lived and worked in Almeria, Spain and London, where she worked for Oxford University Press. Along the way she published some short stories for adults. She met her future husband, Peter, at a train station in Crewe Junction, England. They married in Wales, lived in Amsterdam, then moved to Massachusetts where they raised two sons, Ian and Derek.

While reading out loud to her boys at night, Christine discovered a world she’d forgotten all about: children’s books. As she reconnected with authors from her childhood, and new authors too, she realized she wanted to write the kinds of fantasy books she’d loved as a child.

Christine has worked as a free-lance journalist, an editor and teacher. A short story she wrote in graduate school became her first published book: THE DREAMKEEPERS, a children’s fantasy set in Wales. After signing with Stephen Fraser of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, she now writes fulltime. Her post-apocalyptic children's fantasy THE OWL KEEPER (Random House/​Delacorte Press) was published in 2010 and came out in paperback in April 2011. Christine's next novel, THE SCORPIONS OF ZAHIR, an adventure-fantasy set in Morocco, will be published in 2012.

When not writing, she loves to read, sail, row, hike, watch scary movies and explore distant corners of Argentina. Christine and Peter divide their time between their home by the sea in Gloucester, Massachusetts and an old country house in Deer Isle, Maine.