More about Tiffany…
Tiffany Lewis is a children's author and freelance journalist. After more than two decades writing for newspapers, she received an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University, where she was mentored by Dashka Slater, Erin Entrada Kelly, Coe Booth, and Sherri Smith. She writes middle grade historical and contemporary fiction, as well as picture books.
As a journalist, she’s written for The Guardian, Austin American-Statesman, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Miami Herald, and National Geographic Online. For twelve years she wrote a popular family-life column for the Deseret News. She is a contributor to the book "Life Lessons from Mothers of Faith."
Tiffany is also a storyteller and singer. With her sister, playwright Katherine Gee Perrone, she performed on the children’s stage at the Northwest Folklife Festival. She has also appeared in community theater productions. Locally, she performs with the a cappella ensemble the Clefs of Insanity and choral group Emerald Valley Voices.
Education is an additional passion. She was a founding board member of the Woodbury Leadership Academy (WLA) in Minnesota, where she drafted the $500,000 grant for state funding. WLA is now recognized as one of top schools in the state of Minnesota.
Tiffany is the second oldest of six kids. Growing up, her house was filled singing, dancing, piano, trumpet, guitar, violin, and a host of theatrics. Every family gathering turned into a performance, with her parents as the world’s most supportive audience. It was great fun.
When she wasn’t putting on a leotard and tap dancing in the kitchen, she was sprawled in her room, or up a tree, lost in a book. She had a great many friends, but her closest companions were Ramona Quimby, Matilda, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Hatchet’s Brian Robeson, and My Side of the Mountain’s Sam Gribley. She read her favorite books until the spines fell apart, lost in the world of Klickitat Street and Plum Creek, with a pet hawk on her wrist.
When she was eight, she received her first journal and discovered her love of writing. She wrote about her little sister’s imaginary friend, Annie. She wrote about her fears for an upcoming math test. She drew a picture of the dress she wore to the ninth-grade dance and wrote about that, too. Her attic is filled with her childhood journals, and she still keep a journal today.
She wrote her first real story when she was in the sixth grade. It was called Saved by a Dolphin, and it was about a girl who gets swept out to sea off the Oregon Coast. She clings to a piece of driftwood and eats dried fish until a dolphin comes along and saves her. It took a very long time to write this story. When she finished, she printed it out, gave it a cheery yellow cover, and sold it to her friends and family for a quarter apiece. A writer was born!
She still love writing stories, and every year she asks for a pet dolphin for her birthday. She now lives just an hour from the coast where her first story was based. She has four kids and a husband who is also a writer. They live in a very old, very pink house, where, on most days, you can find her scribbling words, baking muffins, and singing at the top of her lungs.
Showing an early penchant for wearing tap shoes and commanding an audience. Tiffany on the right, best friend Emily on the left.
These are a few of her favorite things
Favorite animal: Dolphin
Favorite foods: Licorice and artichoke hearts (but not together)
Favorite book: Holes by Louis Sachar
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite pattern: Stripes (especially blue and white)
Favorite place: Anywhere with an ocean
Dream job: Writer! (but also marine biologist)
Favorite ice cream flavor: Licorice
Favorite movie: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Favorite child: The one who gives me a foot rub!
