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Official Bio

R.A. Nelson is the author of the novels TEACH ME and BREATHE MY NAME, both nominated to the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list. Nelson’s third book is DAYS OF LITTLE TEXAS, coming out on July 14 with Knopf. He is working on his fourth book, THROAT, slated for Fall 2010, also with Knopf.

Nelson was chosen as a Horn Book Newcomer in 2005 and his books have been recognized by the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list, Booksense Kid Picks, the Miami Herald Best Books of the Year, teenreads.com Best Books of the year, the Michigan Library Thumbs Up! list (Top Twenty), and many other awards and lists.

His novels are also very popular in Germany, published by Ravensburger, where BREATHE MY NAME is published under the title SHINE.

R.A. Nelson lives with his family in North Alabama and works at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. He is the recipient of NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy Award in recognition of “outstanding support provided to the Space Shuttle program.”

Nelson’s novel TEACH ME has been optioned by Protagonist Films for a feature film.


Loosening up the tie

Like Mark Twain, I was “born excited.” I grew up in north Alabama and I’ve been writing one kind of story or another ever since writing a play called “The Mummy’s Curse” in the second grade.

Before becoming a writer, I wanted to be an astronaut, an NBA star, a time traveler, a colonist on the N. American continent somewhere between the years 1589-1720, and a general all-around explorer.

I love to learn about things like quantum physics, but sometimes it feels like I’m riding on tires that are underinflated. But I figure I’ll get there eventually.

I love meeting readers and writers and librarians and teachers and all sorts of other amazing people. I love to read, of course, and also love to travel, spend time with family and friends, walk in forests, learn about history, look at planets through telescopes, attempt to grow plants, and dream.

A little secret: the original title for my book Teach Me was…

TEENAGE GIRL’S X-RAY VISION BAFFLES SCIENTISTS. No joke.

Official Bio R.A. Nelson is the author of the novels TEACH ME and BREATHE MY NAME, both nominated to the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list. Nelson’s third book is DAYS OF LITTLE TEXAS, coming out on July 14 with Knopf. He is working on his fourth book, THROAT, slated for Fall 2010, also with Knopf. Nelson was chosen as a Horn Book Newcomer in 2005 and his books have been recognized by th... More