Liz Kessler


Liz Kessler is an English writer of children's books, most notably a series about a half-mermaid named Emily Windsnap.

Biography

Kessler grew up in Southport in the North West of England, and has lived in Manchester and Cheshire. She lives in St Ives, Cornwall.
Kessler studied English at Loughborough University, then did a teaching qualification at Keele University, and more recently did a Masters in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
She has worked as a teacher, teaching English and Media Studies, and has also run Creative Writing courses. Liz was also a journalist working on local and regional newspapers in both York and Manchester.
She did a brief interview with the BBC about creative writing. She is represented by the Felicity Bryan Literary Agency, and her books are published by Orion Children's Books.
Her books are written at a level suitable for schoolchildren in grades 4 to 7.

Emily Windsnap series

The Emily Windsnap series of children's novels features a 12-year-old girl who lives alone with her mother on a boat by the seaside. When Emily takes swimming lessons, she finds out something she did not know about herself. Emily is a semi-mer which means when fully immersed in water she has a mermaid's tail but when she is on land she has human legs. However, her mother appears to remember nothing about mermaids or even Emily's own father. Now Emily and her newly found friend Shona Silkfin embark on a trip through the mermaid realm to find out the truth about her, her father and mother, and the unusual Mr. Beeston, the lighthouse keeper.
The Emily Windsnap series was #10 on the New York Times Best Seller list for a new release in a children's series on 20 May 2007.
Now Liz Kessler has officially released 9 books in the Emily Windsnap series.

Works

A Year Without Autumn was the first of three planned "stand alone" novels that "all deal in some way with time travel"; North of Nowhere was the second.
The Emily Windsnap books are published by Orion Children's Books in the U.K., by Candlewick Press in the U.S. The first two are illustrated by Sarah Gibb, who continues to provide the cover art. The third to fifth books are illustrated by Natacha Ledwidge.
The Philippa Fisher books are illustrated by Katie May.
Illustrated by Mike Phillips and published by Orion.