Short Bio:

Andrea Wang is an acclaimed author of children’s books. Her book Watercress was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a New England Book Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. Her other books, The Many Meanings of Meilan, Magic Ramen, and The Nian Monster, have also received awards and starred reviews. Her work explores culture, creative thinking, and identity. She is also the author of seven nonfiction titles for the library and school market. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family.

Long Bio:

I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1970. I think my love of mythical creatures came from playing with the Chinese lions in front of the Yenching Library at Harvard University, where my father was a professor. I take photos of all the sculptures of mythical creatures I see, wherever I go.

When I was two, my family moved to the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The town was so small that there was only one traffic light. Okay, maybe two. I spent my free time riding ponies (because I was too short to ride horses), baking cookies, and following my older brother all over town. When I wasn’t doing one of those things, I was reading. I always had a book in my hand –in bed, at the dinner table, even while taking a bath! I knew I wanted to be a writer when one of the poems I’d written in second grade was published in the town newspaper. I felt like I had made it – I was now a published author! It didn’t matter to me that the newspaper had printed all my classmates’ poems, too. I felt special anyway!

My family moved back to Massachusetts when I was in middle school. I started volunteering in the hospitals where my mother worked. When I went to Wellesley College, my parents insisted that I study science or law. I chose biology and set my sights on medical school. It was during an ecology class that I realized I didn’t want to spend my life working in a hospital – I wanted to be outdoors, or at least doing something to help the environment. After college, I got a Master’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Indiana – Bloomington and moved back to Massachusetts to become an environmental consultant. I helped clean up polluted places all over the state.

While I was an environmental consultant, I married and had two sons. I decided to leave my job and stay home with them. I had never stopped reading in my free time, but now I started writing again, too. I took online classes and then got another Master’s degree, this time in Creative Writing for Young People from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My old dream of being an author became my new dream, and I’m thrilled to be living it!

I have written seven nonfiction books for libraries and schools. They are about people (Malala Yousafzai), places (Georgia, Maine, and Asia), animals (gorillas), and something I know a lot about — fossil fuel pollution. My first fiction picture book, The Nian Monster, was published in December 2016 by Albert Whitman & Company. It was selected as an Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature Honor book in 2017. After many years in the Boston area, my family and I moved to Colorado, where I write full time from my home office. Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando, my second picture book, is a non-fiction biography of the inventor of instant ramen. Magic Ramen released in March 2019 from Little Bee Books. Watercress, my semi-autobiographical third picture book, released in March 2021 from Neal Porter Books/Holiday House and was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a New England Book Award, and a Boston Globe – Horn Book Honor. My debut middle grade novel, The Many Meanings of Meilan, came out in August 2021 from Kokila Books/Penguin Random House to starred reviews and a NYT Best Books of 2021 designation.

Newbery Honor Award

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature from the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (PB Honor in 2017, PB Gold in 2022)

Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award

New England Book Award Winner

2021 Boston Globe – Horn Book Honor Book

I’m Your Neighbor New Generation Award

Reading the West Award for Picture Books

Ohioana Book Award for Juvenile Literature

Floyd’s Pick Book (Honor in 2022, Award in 2023)

Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

SCBWI 2022 Crystal Kite Award, Southwest Division

2021 Cybils Award

2021 Nerdy Book Club Award – Fiction Picture Books 

Sakura Medal

Freeman Book Award Honor

“100 Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators Everyone Should Know” by Reading Rockets