Joan Abelove (born 1945) is an American writer of

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novels. She attended

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

and has a PhD in cultural anthropology from the City University of New York. She spent two years in the

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

s of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

as part of her doctoral research and used the experience as background for her first novel, ''Go and Come Back'' (1998). ''Go and Come Back'', about a young Peruvian girl's encounter with anthropologists, earned numerous awards and citations, including a "Best Books for Young Adults" selection of the American Library Association and "Book Prize Finalist" selection of the ''Los Angeles Times''. Her second book, ''Saying It Out Loud'', is about a Jewish girl coming to terms with her mother's death from brain cancer. Joan Abelove participates in a critique group with

Gail Carson Levine Gail Carson Levine (born September 17, 1947) is an American author of young adult books. Her second novel, ''Ella Enchanted'', received a Newbery Honor in 1998.

, writer of '' Ella Enchanted'' and ''Writing Magic'', a guide for child authors who wish to make their stories better. She now lives in New York City with her husband and son.

Bibliography

* ''Go and Come Back'' (1998), * ''Saying It Out Loud'' (1999), * ''Lost & Found: Award-Winning Authors Share Real-Life Experiences Through Fiction'' (contributor) (2000)

References

* "Joan Abelove" in ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Thomson Gale, entry updated October 22, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abelove, Joan 1945 births Living people American children's writers Barnard College alumni American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers