Kelly Barnhill

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-26

Kelly Barnhill is an American author of children's literature, fantasy, and science fiction, born December 7, 1973, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated from Minneapolis South High School and earned her degree from St. Catherine University in St. Paul. Before establishing her writing career, Barnhill worked for the National Park Service and trained as a volunteer firefighter; she began writing short stories after the birth of her second child, which eventually grew into full-length novels. Her best-known work, The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2016), won the 2017 Newbery Medal, one of the most prestigious honors in American children's literature. Other notable books include The Witch's Boy (2014), The Unlicensed Magician (2015), which won the 2016 World Fantasy Award, and the adult novels When Women Were Dragons (2022) and The Ogress and the Orphans (2022), the latter of which won the 2023 Mythopoeic Award. She has also been a finalist for the Andre Norton Award, the Minnesota Book Award, and the PEN/USA literary prize. Barnhill is married to architect Ted Barnhill and has three children; the family lives in Minneapolis. In 2021 she sustained a traumatic brain injury from a fall that has affected her writing process.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2016) · The Girl Who Drank the Moon Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

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

← All authors