Linda Sue Park

Linda Sue Park is a Korean American author of children’s and young adult fiction, born on March 25, 1960, in Urbana, Illinois, to parents who immigrated from Korea. She earned a B.A. in English from Stanford University and later completed advanced degrees in literature at Trinity College, Dublin and the University of London. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked in fields including public relations, advertising, food journalism, and teaching English as a second language.

Park published her first novel, Seesaw Girl, in 1999 and has since written numerous books for young readers, notably the Newbery Medal–winning novel A Single Shard (2001) and the New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story (2010). Her bibliography includes titles such as The Kite Fighters, When My Name Was Keoko, Project Mulberry, Prairie Lotus, the Wing & Claw series, and multiple entries in the 39 Clues series.