About ME
This is me hiding out on the side porch of my grandparents’ house in Archer City. Even now, I love sitting on my front porch step!
Stephanie Parsley Ledyard…
... writes picture books, poetry, and middle grade fiction. She works as a librarian and has the great privilege of helping middle school students find what they want to read.
Stephanie was born in Archer City, Texas, and she grew up in nearby Wichita Falls, where she had a lot of time to wander freely with her best friends. They explored fields, spent long days at the park, and got lost on their bicycles. They baked things, broke things, jumped on beds, and and made many messes while their parents were at work.
In first and second grades, Stephanie struggled to learn reading. But in third grade, she moved to Crockett Elementary school, where Mrs. Thompson seemed like the kindest teacher ever. Stephanie became addicted to writing poetry in fourth grade, when she received what appeared to be (in her limited experience) a wild response to her original, somewhat-school-inappropriate poem, which she read aloud in language arts class.
Stephanie attended college at The University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a journalism degree plus a lot of science hours. She has worked as a lifeguard, Daily Texan reporter, nanny, hospice children’s-grief-program coordinator, piano accompanist, fourth-grade teacher, and more.
Stephanie lives in Texas with her husband, Aaron, daughters, Megan and Natalie, two big dogs, a cat, and budgies named Mac and Cheese. Her first daughter, Hannah, died from complications of Spinal Muscular Atrophy at age seven months.
Stephanie has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
