Beatrice Gormley

Beatrice Gormley was born in Glendale, California, and by age nine knew she wanted to be a published writer. She later graduated from Ponoma College and went to work as a textbook editor. There she met her husband, an editor for the same company.

Gormley loved writing stories, though none of her short stories were ever published. Eventually she decided to do less editing of other people's work and put more attention toward her own writing. Taking on a freelance editing job, she began penning essays and articles. Newspapers and magazines accepted her work. From there she ventured into books that would interest her own young daughters. Finally she had found her niche. Mail-Order Wings was her first published book, and since then she's authored many popular fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, including Salome, Adara, Miriam, and Maria Mitchell: The Soul of an Astronomer.

Gormley regularly visits schools to give presentations to 3rd-6th grade students on effective storytelling, as well as how books are researched, written, and published. She has spoken in elementary and middle schools in California, Oregon, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and many states in between.