Sarah Ellis (born 19 May 1952 in Vancouver) is a Canadian children's writer and librarian. She has been a librarian in Toronto and Vancouver. She has also written reviews for Quill and Quire. She taught writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a masthead reviewer for The Horn Book. Ellis has said that she gets her ideas from "memories, anecdotes people tell me, radio interviews, dreams, newspaper articles, family stories, being curious, observing the world, paying attention." She is a strong advocate for children's literature and she belongs to many different clubs and unions such as the Writers' Union of Canada, the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable, Children's Writers and Illustrators and many more.

Biography

Ellis was born 19 May 1952 in Vancouver, British Columbia to Joseph Walter and Ruth Elizabeth Ellis and has two older brothers. She attended the University of British Columbia where she received her Bachelor of Arts honours in 1973 and a Master of Library Science (MLS) in 1975. After receiving her MLS, Ellis began working as a librarian in Vancouver before attending Simmons College, where she graduated with a Master of Arts degree in children's literature in 1980. Ellis published her first book, The Baby Project, in 1986. In 1999, she was a writer-in-residence at Massey College at the University of Toronto. Ellis retired from library work in 2007 but shortly after began teaching at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has also written reviews for Quill and Quire and is a masthead reviewer for The Horn Book. She is an out lesbian.

Awards and honours

In 1995, Ellis won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, and in 2013, she received the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence. She has also been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award four times. In 2012, Ellis was chair of the judges for the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award.

Publications

Middle grade and young adult fiction

Picture books

Ben series

The Ben books are illustrated by Kim LaFave.

Short story collections

Dear Canada Diary books

Nonfiction books

Anthologies edited