Jen Kraar

Jen Kraar grew up chasing lizards in India, making up stories about spirits houses in Thailand, and riding retired racehorses in Singapore. She left Southeast Asia for the U.S. and attended the University of North Carolina. There she studied Chinese language and literature and, later Library and Information Science. While a school librarian in Pittsburgh, Jen enjoyed building a diverse collection of kid’s books, making podcasts, and teaching her students the power of storytelling. As a Manager at Pittsburgh’s beloved City of Asylum Bookstore, she reads every middle-grade ARC she can get her hands on and bake scones for her colleagues every Friday. Jen writes picture books and middle-grade novels. She received my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in January of 2023.