Hi, I'm Janelle!

I write stories about family, identity, first love, and characters searching for where they belong.

I'm the author of the young adult novels Analee, in Real Life and The Victoria in My Head. Before becoming an author, I worked in publishing, spent nearly a decade as a teacher and librarian, and discovered that helping young people find their voices is just as rewarding as writing my own stories.

Today I continue that work through Write the World, where I mentor young writers from around the world.

I live in New Jersey with my husband, our two daughters, and our grumpy cat, Ripley. I'm currently at work on my first middle grade fantasy novel.