Adriana Brad Schanen emigrated to the US from Romania at age four and grew up in Chicago. A competitive figure skater as a child, she went on to teach skating at University of Illinois, work in fashion in NYC, and, slowly but surely, become a writer. She now lives in Montclair, NJ, with her husband, Glen, and two little girls who inspire and befuddle her in equal measure.

When she's not writing or getting tied up by her kids, Adriana enjoys reading anything by Annie Dillard, Kazuo Ishiguro and Sara Pennypacker, watching anything directed by Alexander Payne and Jane Campion, and taking wild guesses as to what will fall apart next in her drafty 130-year-old house. She holds a B.A. in English from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia. Her screenplay, "Gifted," was a 2009 finalist for the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship and she is at work on a YA version of that story.

Her debut early middle grade novel, QUINNY & HOPPER, was a Bluebonnet nominee book and won the 2017 Beverly Cleary Children's Choice Book Award. A sequel, Q&H: PARTNERS IN SLIME, is now available, and the third title in the series, Q&H: SMART COOKIES, will publish June 5, 2018. 

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