Kerry Madden | Author

Kerry Madden
Author of Gentle Holler, Jessie's Mountain, and Up Close: Harper Lee

Latest News & Events

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Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference

Jun.26.2009

Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference

Madden will be teaching fiction at this conference.

Featured Works

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PUBLISHED: Feb.14.2008

Jessie's Mountain

Can something that’s so awful wrong have shiny bright bits of right to it? It’s slowly dawning on twelve-year-old Livy Two Weems that not every decision in life falls neatly into categories of right or wrong—and the harder the decision is the blurrier the lines get. It’s winter 1963, and just about every member of the large Weems family has a decision to make. Should Livy Two run...

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PUBLISHED: Mar.19.2009

Up Close: Harper Lee

From the forward of Up Close: Harper Lee When I was asked to write a young adult biography of Harper Lee for Viking’s Up Close series, I set out on the task of trying to contact her through her agent in New York and her oldest sister in Alabama. A former colleague who had recently met her wrote her a letter of introduction on my behalf. I also wrote at least ten...

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PUBLISHED: May.17.2007

Louisiana's Song

Livy Two is happy that Daddy is finally out of his coma, but the befuddled man who comes home is not the daddy the Weems family once knew. He forgets their names, he wanders off—he won’t even touch his beloved banjo. Set in Appalachia in 1963, this heartwarming, and heart-wrenching, follow-up to Gentle’s Holler is narrated by the irrepressible Livy Two, and traces the ups and downs...

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PUBLISHED: Mar.15.2007

Gentle's Holler

The sixties may have come to other parts of North Carolina, but with Mama pregnant again, Daddy struggling to find work, and nine siblings underfoot, nobody in the holler has much time for modern-day notions. Especially not twelve-year-old Livy Two, aspiring songwriter and self-appointed guardian of little sister Gentle, whose eyes “don’t work so good yet." Even after a doctor...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.01.1996

Offsides

The daughter of a college football coach, Kerry Madden grew up in a series of hometowns, transplanted from one place to the next with the changing of the football season, uprooted from childhood friends with almost no warning. It is this hectic, whirlwind lifestyle which Madden draws upon in writing her first novel, Offsides. Offsides captures the bittersweet humor behind a girl's...

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PUBLISHED:

Writing Smarts: A Girl's Guide to Writing Great Poetry, Stories, School Reports, and More!

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Kerry's Latest Blogs

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Apr.29.2011 - 11:08 am

Ways to Help in Alabama...

I'm still in shock at what I'm seeing, but this came from our English Department about ways to help in the devastation of these tornadoes. Financial Support: 1. American Red...

Nov.25.2010 - 11:21 am

I'm Thankful To Be Home...Being Home Together by Kerry Madden

I am very thankful to Gina Misiroglu of Red Room who put me in touch with the AOL and encouraged me to write a Thanksgiving essay. I so appreciate the community of authors she's...

Nov.17.2010 - 9:50 pm

Fall 2010...Birmingham, Nashville, New York and DC...an autumn of stories1

On November 7th, in Washington DC...An American Girl Fashion Show to raise money for the prevention of blindness. Below is a picture from last year's show in DC. The girls are...

Nov.17.2010 - 7:22 am

Birmingham Rocks Day of the Dead

Birmingham Rocks 'Day of the Dead' at Bare Hands Art Gallery [Nov. 4th, 2010|11:42 pm] Okay, I could quite possibly get maudlin here playing "Danny Boy" late at night...

Writing

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Article: On The Trail For Harper Lee

Article: Bowled over by Christmas: For the daughter of a football coach, Christmas meant bowl games in sunny climes.

Article: You don't have to own it to make it a home: In the end, it's family, not a mortgage, that matters most

Published Reviews

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Published by Childhood Education

What a heartwarming story for children and adults alike! The reader can almost feel the brisk mountain air, smell the sweet honeysuckle, and see the majestic sunrise over Maggie...

About Kerry

Kerry first captured the attention of young adult readers with her novel Offsides, (William Morrow) selected by the New York Public Library as one of the Ten Recommended Books of 1997 for Mature Teens. Her second book, Writing Smarts: A Girl's Guide to...

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Connections

Causes Kerry Madden Supports

Reading is Fundamental