ABOUT ME

 

Hi, my name is Sue Fliess ("fleece") and I'm the award-winning, bestselling author of over fifty children's books including Cicada Symphony, Octopus Acrobatics, Beauty and the Beaker, Sadie Sprocket Builds a Rocket, Flash and Gleam Light in Our World, the Kid Scientist series, Beatrice Bly's Rules for Spies series, Magical Creatures and Crafts series, many Little Golden Books, and more. 

 

My picture books have been named to many prestigious lists including ALA Notable, Texas 2x2, Bank Street College Best Books, Delaware Diamonds, Oklahoma Redbud Read-Alouds, CCBC Choices, Capitol Choices, MPIBA Reading the West, A Mighty Girl, and Imagination Soup. They’ve earned starred reviews, selected to the Junior Library Guild, included in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and appeared on Jill’s Steals and Deals (The Today Show), Reading Rainbow Live, mentioned in The New York Times, and even read by celebrities! 

 

I’m thankful many of my books have been translated into multiple languages so readers around the world can enjoy them. I’ve received honors from the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators, have been used as curriculum tools in schools, and in museum educational programs, 

My background is in copywriting, PR, and marketing, and my essays have appeared in O the Oprah Magazine, Huffington Post, Writer's Digest,  and more. I've also written stories for The Walt Disney Company. In 2014 my family moved from Northern California to Northern Virginia, where we live with our English Labrador, Truman, the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and way too many mosquitoes.

 

 

The long version (if you're up for it):
I think I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t until later that I figured out what kind of writer I wanted to be. I’ve been writing in some form most of my life. As a child, I wrote poems for my family, and as a teenager I wrote about unrequited love. During college, despite my obvious lack of psychology qualifications, I wrote a “Dear Sue” column for my university newspaper, trying my best to solve friend traumas and heal heartaches. I was constantly collecting quotes and sayings from books, poems - even greeting cards - that spoke to me in some way, and plastering them to my walls. I guess I just liked being surrounded by words.

And that was never more true than when I accepted my first job as a publicist for Penguin’s adult paperback division. I wrote press releases, pitch letters, and met and worked with many amazing authors, editors and members of the media. During that time, I joined a writing group in Manhattan where I worked with a very talented group of writers. When I moved to the Northern California Bay Area, to the heart of Silicon Valley, I held positions including copywriter, Marketing Communications Manager, and Director of Marketing for companies large and small, low to high tech. But even as I wrote product datasheets, signage copy, newsletters and web content, there was a part of me that yearned to write my own stories again.

It wasn’t until I accepted the non-paying-but-constantly-rewarding position of stay-at-home mom of my two boys that I was able to start writing for myself again. When my first child turned two years old, he had an insatiable thirst for all things outer space. And I was inspired to write him a story about it. That, coupled with the encouragement and advice from a children’s librarian and friend, as well as local authors, was when I began my adventure into writing for children. And I’ve been hooked ever since.

I am a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), Children's Book Guild of D.C., and the Author’s Guild, and in both 2007 and 2008 received Letters of Commendation from the SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant for Picture Book Writing for two of my stories. I was also accepted into the 2008 Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature (RUCCL) based on a young adult novel work-in-progress.

I love to spend time with my family, travel, sing, participate in a children’s writing critique group, visit schools, speak to other writers about the craft of writing, and write as much as I can. I’ve also been known to buy great shoes now and then. I am thrilled and proud to now be able to contribute my own stories to the wonderful worldwide library of children’s literature.