Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Kirstin Cronn-Mills, PhD, teaches writing, literature, and critical thinking at South Central College in North Mankato, Minnesota. She writes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction books and articles. Her young adult fiction and nonfiction have been honored several times, including a Minnesota Book Award nomination for LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field in 2017. LGBTQ+ Athletes was also a 2016 Junior Library Guild selection, a 2017 American Library Association Rainbow List selection, and a 2017 Best Children’s Books of the Year selection from Bank Street College.
Interview
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
Put Me In the Zoo (Lopshire); Monster at the End of this Book (Stone); A Ring of Endless Light (L’Engle) How could a person pick just one???
What’s your favorite line from a book?
Too many to choose from! In my first memory of my grandmother, she’s reciting “The Pasture” by Robert Frost—I can see her saying “I shan’t be gone long/You come too.”
Who are your top three favorite authors or illustrators?
A.S. King, Maurice Sendak, and Sandra Boynton.
Why did you want to become an author or illustrator?
I love to read—turns out I also love to write.
Do you have any advice for future authors or illustrators?
Persistence, patience, practice—those qualities will get you published!
