Born May 17, 1939, Gary Paulsen is one of America's most popular writers for young people. Although Paulsen was never a dedicated student, he developed a passion for reading and writing at an early age.
Running away from home at the age of 14 and traveling with a carnival, Paulsen acquired a taste for adventure. Throughout his youth and teenage years, Paulsen performed a variety of jobs such as rigorous chores on a farm; jobs as an engineer, construction worker, ranch hand, truck driver, and a sailor.
Paulsen believes in young people and this is the drive he uses to write. His intense desire to tap deeply into the human spirit and to encourage readers to observe and care about the world around them has brought him both enormous popularity with young people and book critics. Paulsen is a master storyteller who has written more than 175 books and some 200 articles and short stories for children and adults. He is one of the most important writers of young adult literature today and three of his novels — Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room— were Newbery Honor Books. His books frequently appear on the best books lists of the American Library Association.
