Lena Coakley

Biography

Lena was born in Milford, Connecticut and grew up on Long Island. In high school, creative writing was the only class she ever failed (nothing was ever good enough to hand in!), but, undeterred, she went on to study writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She got interested in children’s literature when she moved to Toronto, Canada, and began working for CANSCAIP, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers, where she eventually became the Administrative Director. She is now a full-time writer living in Toronto. Lena’s first novel, Witchlanders, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite award and was a White Pine Award honouree. Her second novel, Worlds of Ink and Shadow, was a Globe & Mail bestseller (Canada) and made both the CBC and Quill & Quire’s Best Books of the Year lists. Wicked Nix is her first novel for middle-grade readers.