Janice N. Harrington grew up in Vernon, Alabama. When she was eight years old, her family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. A lover of stories both written and oral, she came to her interest in writing through childhood favorites such as Jane Eyre, Charlotte’s Web, and the Greek myths she came upon in an antiquated set of the Book of Knowledge encyclopedia.

Ms. Harrington received the Ezra Jack Keat’s New Writer Award for her first picture book, Going North. The book, which Kirkus Reviews called “gorgeous,” and School Library Journal described as “a solid choice for readers,” was named a Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book, a Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice, and a Booklist Editors’ Choice. Her second picture book, The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County, has already received much acclaim, being selected for Fanfare, The Horn Book’s Honor List and named a Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice.

Ms. Harrington is also a nationally known storyteller who has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival, a widely published poet, and a children’s librarian with over twenty-two years’ experience as a youth advocate. She lives in Champaign, Illinois.