Erin Bow

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-09-29

Erin Bow (born Erin Noteboom, 1972) is an American-born Canadian writer of fiction for young readers, and a poet. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, she studied particle physics at Creighton University and worked at the CERN laboratory near Geneva before leaving science to write; she lives in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband, the writer James Bow, and their two children. Her poetry, published under her maiden name, won the CBC Literary Award. Her first novel, the Russian-flavoured fantasy Plain Kate (2010), won the 2011 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award; she has since won the Monica Hughes Award for Sorrow's Knot (2014), the Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children for the science-fiction novel The Scorpion Rules (2016), and the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature for Stand on the Sky (2019).

Universe(s)

Books

• Plain Kate (2010) · Plain Kate Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 1 book
• Award recognitions across all universes: 2 (1 won, 1 nomination)

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