A celebrated name amongst Young Adult fiction writers, Ellen Hopkins is the author of several New York Times bestselling novels including Burned, Crank and Identical. Her critically acclaimed books cover difficult teenage issues including drug addiction, mental health issues, prostitution and many other issues that trouble the youth of today. In addition to her popular young adult novels, Hopkins has also written books for adult audiences including Collateral, Triangles and Love Lies Beneath.
Born in Long Beach, California, Hopkins grew up surrounded by Hollywood celebrities in Palm Springs. A voracious reader as a child, she began taking part in creative writing contests encouraged by her teachers and won every single one. After graduating from high school she planned to pursue a career in journalism but dropped out of college to get married and begin a video store business. Her first marriage failed and she remarried, moving to northern Nevada where she began writing for a living. After starting out as a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines she shifted her focus to children’s non-fiction before writing her first novels.
In 2004 Hopkins got her first novel published. Entitled Crank, it was loosely based on her adopted daughter’s crystal meth addiction. The sensitive subject matter of the novel resulted in the book being banned in some places, but it also became valuable reading for high schools and drug court programs. Hopkins has continued to write prolifically ever since and now has 18 novels under her belt. With a huge global fan base, Hopkins travels regularly visiting schools, libraries, conferences, book signings and festivals.