Pat Schmatz
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Pat Schmatz | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Michigan State University University of California, Berkeley |
| Genre | young adult fiction |
| Years active | 2001-now |
| Notable works | Lizard Radio |
| Notable awards | 2010 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, 2012 Crystal Kite Award, 2015 James Triptee Jr. Award, 2015 Josette Frank Award, 2019 Minnesota Book Award |
Pat Schmatz (born ca. 1960)[1] is an American author of young adult fiction and middle grade fiction, best known for their James Tiptree Jr. Award winning novel Lizard Radio. Other of their well-known and award-winning works include Bluefish and The Key to Every Thing.
Schmatz grew up in rural Wisconsin.[2] They read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton in sixth grade, which made them decide that they wanted to start writing for children.[3][4]
Selected works
Their second novel and first young adult book, Mousetraps, tells the story of a teen dealing with homophobia and bullying after her childhood best friend who suddenly disappeared turns up again.[5] It was published in 2008 by Carolrhoda and a nominee for the Lambda Literary Award in Children's/Young Adult in 2008.[6]
Bluefish, their fourth novel, is about a boy moving to a new town where he lives with his alcoholic grandpa. He is befriended by a difficult and hilarious classmate who helps him see things in a new way.[7] It was published by Candlewick in 2011 and received several starred reviews.[8][9][10] Bluefish was a nominee for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award in 2013[11] and the California Young Reader Medal for Middle School/Junior High in 2015.[12] It won the Crystal Kite Award in 2012[13] and the Josette Frank Award in 2015.[14]
Schmatz's fifth novel, Lizard Radio, is set in a world just slightly tilted from our own, where teens have to commit to a gender and "benders" are dealt with harshly.[15] In the novel, a fifteen-year-old bender teen struggles in a culture that tries to define everyone by strict binaries. It was published by Candlewick in 2015.[16] Lizard Radio won the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 2015.[17][18]
