Gail Carson Levine

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-26

Gail Carson Levine was born on September 17, 1947, in New York City into a Jewish family; her father owned a commercial art studio and her mother was a teacher and playwright. She graduated from the City College of New York with a B.A. in philosophy in 1969, and spent twenty-seven years working as a welfare administrator for New York State before becoming a full-time writer. She began writing in 1987 after taking a children's writing class, enduring nine years of rejections before her breakthrough. That breakthrough, Ella Enchanted (1997), a Cinderella retelling in which the heroine is cursed with an enforced obedience she must overcome, earned Levine a Newbery Honor in 1998 and launched her career as a major voice in fairy-tale-inspired fantasy for young readers. She went on to write The Two Princesses of Bamarre (2001), an original fantasy adventure, Fairest (2006), inspired by Snow White, the six-story Princess Tales series reinventing classic fairy tales, the Disney Fairies trilogy, and the instructional guide Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly (2006). Married to David Levine since 1967, she runs writing workshops for children in her community, emphasizing themes of kindness, courage, and strong, resourceful female protagonists throughout her body of work.

Universe(s)

Books

• Ella Enchanted (1997) · Ella Enchanted Core Canon
• Fairest (2006) · Ella Enchanted Expanded Canon
• Ogre Enchanted (2018) · Ella Enchanted Expanded Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 1 book
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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