18 May 2017 Pattison a prolific children’s writer

by Susan Peterson

Hailing from North Little Rock, Darcy Pattison (DarcyPattison.com) is a prolific children’s writer and writing instructor whose fiction and non-fiction books have been translated into nine languages. 

She has now published about 30 books, three of which were designated as National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Books: “Nefertiti, the Spidernaut: How a Jumping Spider Learned to Hunt in Space,” “Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma: The True Story of an Orphaned Cub” and “Desert Baths.”

“Wisdom, the Midway Albatross,” a story about the oldest bird in the world (documented by banding), received a Starred Review in Publisher’s Weekly.

Her most popular book, “The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman,” was named an honor book for the Irma S. and James H. Black Picture Book Award. It’s included in the 2008 Houghton Mifflin reading series, “Journeys.”

Darcy is generous about providing other authors and aspiring authors with information she has gleaned from her own experiences. Need motivation? What about an agent? Some tips on character development? These are the types of questions she addresses on her blog, which has more than 350,000 readers/year. She established the Arkansas chapter of the Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators and served as a regional advisor for six years.

In addition to publishing with traditional publishers, she established Mims House (MimsHouse.com) to publish the workbook for her highly regarded Novel Revision Retreat that she teaches across the country. She tweets @FictionNotes, and her Pinterest boards reach more than 450,000 viewers/month.

Darcy is a sought-after speaker at conferences and schools throughout Arkansas and across the nation. Her books may be found on Amazon, from major educational distributors, ordered from local bookstores and on her websites.

Darcy and her husband reside in North Little Rock and have four grown children. In her spare time, she loves to quilt and has had several quilts that have been shown nationally. She even had a quilt on the cover of Quilting Today magazine.  

For a full biography and bibliography, see DarcyPattison.com/about.