Jasmine Warga
{{Short description|American children's and young adult book author}}{{Infobox person
| name = Jasmine Warga
|image=Jasmine Warga 2022 Texas Book Festival.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1988|04|24|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
| occupation = Author
| years_active = 2015 — present
}}
Jasmine Warga (born April 24, 1988) is an American children's and young adult book author. Her free verse book Other Words for Home received a Newbery Honor in 2020.{{cite web |last1=de León |first1=Concepción |title=Graphic Novel Wins Newbery Medal for the First Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/books/newbery-new-kid-jerry-craft-caldecott-undefeated-kwame-alexander.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=December 31, 2021 |date=January 27, 2020}} Her novel "A Rover's Story" was a #1 New York Times bestseller.
Early life and education
Warga was born in Cincinnati to an American mother and immigrant Jordanian father.{{cite podcast |host=Emily Earle |title=A Syrian kid moves to Ohio in Jasmine Warga's middle-grade novel |website=Why We Write |publisher=Lesley University |url=https://lesley.edu/podcasts/why-we-write/a-syrian-kid-moves-to-ohio-in-jasmine-wargas-middle-grade-novel |access-date= December 31, 2021}}{{cite web |title=bio |url=http://jasminewarga.com/about |website=jasminewarga.com |access-date=December 31, 2021}} She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in history and art history. She also earned her MFA in creative writing at Lesley University.{{cite web |title=Jasmine Warga - Vermont College of Fine Arts |url=https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/jasmine-warga/ |website=Vermont College of Fine Arts |access-date=December 31, 2021}} After graduating college, Warga worked as a sixth grade science teacher in Texas. While still teaching, she began writing stories.
Career
Warga's debut novel, My Heart and Other Black Holes, published in 2015, is about depressed and suicidal teenagers. Warga was inspired to write the young adult novel after the unexpected death of a close friend.{{cite web |last1=Herrington |first1=Sarah |title=Jasmine Warga’s Unromanticized Depression |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/jasmine-warga-my-heart-and-other-black-holes#_ |website=Interview Magazine |access-date=December 31, 2021 |date=February 9, 2015}} Her 2019 children's book about a Syrian refugee living in Ohio, Other Words for Home,{{cite web |last1=Wick |first1=Jessica P. |title=These 'Words For Home' Are Poetic And Powerful |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/05/30/726354827/these-words-for-home-are-poetic-and-powerful |website=NPR |access-date=December 31, 2021 |date=May 30, 2019}} won a Newbery Honor as well as other awards.{{cite web |last1=Rosenzweig-Ziff |first1=Daniel |title=
Chatting with ... Jasmine Warga |url=https://magazine.northwestern.edu/exclusives/chatting-with-jasmine-warga/ |website=Northwestern Magazine |access-date=December 31, 2021 |date=March 6, 2020}} She was inspired to write the book after visiting a Syrian family friend in 2013 and watching the interactions between his cousins born in America and cousins who had come to America from Syria. In her research over the course of writing the book, she interviewed members of Cincinnati's Syrian community.{{cite web |last1=Grochowski |first1=Sara |title=Q & A with Jasmine Warga |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/80127-q-a-with-jasmine-warga.html |website=Publishers Weekly |access-date=December 31, 2021 |date=May 21, 2019}}
Personal life
Warga lives in Naperville, Illinois{{cite web |last1=Baker |first1=Suzanne |title=Naperville author’s novel for middle school students receives coveted Newbery Honor Book sticker |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/ct-nvs-newbery-honor-naperville-author-st-0129-20200128-twnrti7xxjhafo45vjcg7zsqum-story.html |website=Chicago Tribune |access-date=January 14, 2024 |date=January 28, 2020}} with her family. She teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in addition to her writing career.
Works
- My Heart and Other Black Holes (2015)
- Here We Are Now (2017)
- Other Words for Home (2019)
- The Shape of Thunder (2021)
- A Rover's Story (2022)
- A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall (2024)
References
{{Portal|Children's literature}}
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Category:American people of Jordanian descent
Category:American children's writers
Category:Newbery Honor winners
Category:American young adult novelists
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Writers from Cincinnati
Category:Northwestern University alumni
Category:Lesley University alumni