The Real Deal
Most people prefer to begin their bios at the beginning, but Kekla has never been like most people. Besides, what she is doing now is much more interesting than what she was doing as an infant. (Her mother is very proud of the early age at which Kekla learned to read, but beyond that, who really cares to go back so far?)
Today, Kekla lives and writes in Vermont. She is a full time author, speaker, and writing teacher. She travels to schools and libraries around the country to talk about her books with young readers, which is a lot of fun. She taught for eight years at Vermont College of Fine Arts where she mentors other writers who also want to create books for young readers.
Prior to Vermont, Kekla lived in New York City. Before she became a professional writer, she worked for non-profit organizations around the city. She was a recruiter for the Girl Scouts (not as sinister as it sounds) a grant writer for The Salvation Army (exactly as sinister as it sounds) and a fundraising coordinator for The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, a grassroots youth empowerment agency in Harlem (nothing sinister there). These jobs taught her how to raise money (a very useful skill) and how to deal with people of all ages in all circumstances (even more useful a skill) and that she is not cut out to work in a traditional office setting.
Kekla earned a master of fine arts in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, via a low-residency program specifically designed for children’s writers. Even though writing is very hard work, especially when you have another full-time job to do at the same time, Kekla loved every minute of the program because she had finally figured out what she wanted to do with her life! It also gave her a chance to connect with a community of fellow writers—people who are huge book-dorks like she is, who care about storytelling and kids and reading as much as she does, and who completely understand why sometimes you just have to whip out a pen on the subway and start writing a story on the backs of your Trader Joe’s receipts, even if it makes bystanders regard you as weird. It is a relief to have people like this in your life.
Kekla graduated from Northwestern University, where she majored in History, with a concentration in the History of Africa and the Middle East. (Despite owning a piece of paper that implies otherwise, she still understands very little about what is going on in the Middle East.) Kekla likes studying history because many amazing, talented, brave and creative people have gone before us, and hearing their stories helps her understand how the world got to be the way it is today.
Kekla grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She wrote her first novel when she was in high school. She should have known then that she was destined to be an author, but it actually took her a while longer to figure it out. Kekla always loved books, though. Her mom read lots of books to her, and took her to the library every week so she could read and read and read. Kekla made a habit of checking out as many paperbacks as she could carry!
Kekla is biracial – her mom is white and her dad is black. Her mom grew up in the U.S., but her ancestors came from Holland, Scotland, and maybe elsewhere in Europe. Her dad grew up in Cameroon, a country in western Africa. When Kekla was very young, she lived with her parents in Cameroon for several years. Getting to have experiences like that makes it great to be biracial.
Kekla was born in Michigan. She learned to read at the age of two.
