About

Born in San Fran­cis­co, CA, and raised in Chatham, NJ, Joyce McDon­ald received her BA and MA from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa, and went on to com­plete her Ph.D. at Drew Uni­ver­si­ty.

She is the author of sev­er­al books for chil­dren and young adults, among them the award-win­ning Swal­low­ing Stones, and the Edgar Award nom­i­nat­ed Shades of Simon Gray.

She has taught at East Strouds­burg Uni­ver­si­ty in PA, Drew Uni­ver­si­ty in NJ, and for eight years was on the fac­ul­ty of Spald­ing Uni­ver­si­ty’s Brief-res­i­den­cy MFA in Writ­ing Pro­gram in Louisville, KY. For over twelve years, Joyce served on the Rut­gers Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil on Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture.

She and her hus­band live in Forks Town­ship, PA.