Background

Liz Kessler was born on October 15, 1966, in Southport in the North West of England, and has lived in Manchester and Cheshire. Her father, Harry, arrived in the United Kingdom in 1938 as a refugee from Nazis and is a member of the Southport Reform Synagogue Council. Her mother, Merle, was born and brought up in north Manchester, where she played Anne Frank in a local amateur production. She recently wrote a book set among the Jews of 16th-century Cordoba.

Education

Kessler studied English at Loughborough University, then obtained a teaching qualification at Keele University. She also received her Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Career

Before starting her writing career, Liz was also a journalist working on local and regional newspapers in both York and Manchester. She is represented by the Felicity Bryan Literary Agency, and her books are published by Orion Children"s Books. Her books are written at a level suitable for schoolchildren in grades 4 to 7.

Liz writes young adult fiction, children’s fiction, and young adult fantasy. Her debut novel “The Tail of Emily Windsnap” was released in the year 2001.

“The Tail of Emily Windsnap” is the first novel in the “Emily Windsnap” series, which was released in the year 2001. Emily Windsnap, twelve years old, can only remember living on a boat. Oddly enough, her mom, for the same amount of time, has been anxious to keep her away from the water.

When Mom finally says she can take swimming lessons, Emily makes a stunning discovery. About the mysterious dad, she has never met, her own identity, and the thrilling possibilities and perils that shimmer deep under the water’s surface.

“Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep” is the second novel in the “Emily Windsnap” series, which was released in the year 2004. Picture an island that is set in a glittering blue sea, one that sparkles with white sand and palm trees. It is a secret place where the merfolk and humans live with each other. To Emily Windsnap, her new home is a perfect one. Until Emily ruins it all by waking up some legendary sea monster that is known as the kraken from its century-long sleep.

Liz created characters that are going to always have a unique place in some readers’ hearts. The plot made some cry as well as smile, and Liz’s writing is very fresh and made fans wish, dream, and believe. It takes them out of reality and gives them their own spot in the story.

“Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist” is the third novel in the “Emily Windsnap” series, which was released in the year 2006. Emily Windsnap finds an old diamond ring during a class hunt to find trinkets. How is she supposed to know that the ring makes up half of the key to unlock an ancient curse made by Neptune himself?

Now with the ring stuck on her finger, Emily finds she is under a new curse: in just a few days’ time, she is going to stop being half-mermaid and half-human and will have to say goodbye to one of her parents forever. Will she be able to locate the other missing ring that will break the curses off her? Is there somebody that can help her out before it is too late?

The plot and writing in this one made some readers cry quite a bit, especially by the end of the story. The book is very engaging and it hooks you without ever letting you go for very long.

“Emily Windsnap and the Siren’s Secret” is the fourth novel in the “Emily Windsnap” series, which was released in the year 2009. Emily is filled with delight when her family goes back to Brightport. Their attempts to follow Neptune’s orders to bring merfolk and humans together seems to be a hopeless one.

Emily, who was thrown out of mermaid school and scorned by Mandy Rushton an old enemy, goes off to find the lost sirens that were banished by Neptune to some top-secret undersea cavern.

It is great to see each of these characters get more and more mature as the books go. Readers liked that Emily is finally able to not feel like an outcast this time around. Liz does a wonderful job of bringing all of the characters together and woven their lives together in this story.

“Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun” is the fifth novel in the “Emily Windsnap” series, which was released in the year 2012. Emily and Aaron have been sent on a top-secret mission by King Neptune. The king has been having some nightmares he doesn’t understand and only knows Emily and Aaron have to go to the Land of the Midnight Sun to avoid catastrophe.

Achievements

• Liz Kessler became a published poet back in 1976, at the age of nine, when her story Jinx’s Shop appeared in the Manchester Evening News. Now her “Emily Windsnap” books have been translated into 25 languages, and have appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list. They have sold over five million copies around the world.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins?

    (Jessica Jenkins has always thought she was a perfectly or...)

    2015
  • Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins?

    (Jessica Jenkins has always been a perfectly ordinary girl...)

    2016
  • The Tail of Emily Windsnap

    (With a sure sense of suspense and richly imaginative deta...)

    2012
  • Emily Windsnap and the Tides of Time

    (When Emily makes a wish on a magic stone, she gets a glim...)

    2020
  • Philippa Fisher and the Fairy's Promise

    (When Philippa is magically transported to fairy-godmother...)

    2015
  • Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince

    (Traveling home by cruise ship should be a relaxing break ...)

    2019
  • Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep

    (An enchanting tale with a fabulous monster, engaging char...)

    2012
  • Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun

    (The New York Times best-selling series continues with hal...)

    2014
  • Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Lost Souls

    (A field trip to a mysterious island quickly turns into an...)

    2016
  • North of Nowhere

    (In a sleepy seaside village, Mia’s grandad has vanished, ...)

    2015
  • Poppy the Pirate Dog's New Shipmate

    (Poppy, the irresistible scalawag, navigates uncharted wat...)

    2014
  • A Year Without Autumn

    (Twelve-year-old Jenni’s world turns upside down when she ...)

    2012
  • Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist

    (The third fin-tastic tale about the feisty half-mermaid i...)

    2012
  • Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker's Daughter

    (Philippa Fisher is trying to enjoy her vacation with her ...)

    2015
  • Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret

    (Can the spunky half-mer girl pass Neptune’s test - and he...)

    2012
  • Emily Windsnap and the Falls of Forgotten Island

    (Emily is headed to a tropical island for a relaxing vacat...)

    2019
  • Philippa Fisher and the Fairy Godsister

    (Philippa Fisher would like nothing more than to summon a ...)

    2015

Views

Kessler lives near the sea and has always loved the ocean. This is what partly inspires her to write about mermaids. She likes to look at the beach and just think about where Emily Windsnap may want to go next.

Quotations: "When I was young (from about the age of eight) I loved writing poetry. I decided that I would be a poet when I grew up. My first ever moment of fame came when my poem Jinx’s Shop was published in the local newspaper when I was nine."

"I’m not a writer who sets out to shock or upset. In my books (and in my life) I like resolution, I like endings that feel at least full of hope and promise. In my youth, I remember that in the few books with LGBT characters that were around, many of them were quite depressing or negative in some way - and I very much wanted to go against that."

"The coolest part of being a mermaid would be the ability to find out more about the mysteries of the sea. One of the biggest things that draw me to write about mermaids is the fact that the ocean is such a huge part of our planet, and yet we know so little about it."

“People say: ‘do you believe in mermaids?’ And I say: we can’t categorically say they don’t exist, so I’d prefer to think they might. The thing that excites me the most is not creating a made-up world but setting the story in the contemporary real world, with the possibilities of magic at the edges.”

Personality

Liz Kessler used to live in Manchester but had taken a year off to travel around Europe in a camper van. Despite it being her job, she views writing as a sort of hobby. Her next favorite hobby is photography. She takes a ton of pictures and there is nothing more she likes than just on a rock somewhere with her camera, tea in a hot flask, and the gorgeous sunrise coming up over the horizon.

Liz also likes surfing and bodyboarding, things she is not very good at, and can get scared of big waves but still likes having a go at them. She also enjoys kayaking, fishing, swimming, and rowing. Basically, anything that involves playing on or in or even near the sea.

Interests

• traveling, pets, poetry, photography

• Sport & Clubs

  surfing, bodyboarding, kayaking, fishing, swimming, rowing

Connections

Kessler had a gay wedding and now lives in St Ives, Cornwall with her wife Laura. Although she had a pint thrown over her at University for being gay, coming out to her own family “was never a massive deal” for Kessler.

Father:

Harry Kessler

Mother:

Merle Kessler

Wife:

Laura Kessler

Sister:

Caroline Kessler

Caroline organises community events in the north and is a lay reader and cheder teacher.

Brother:

Peter Kessler

Peter founded Eden Primary, the cross-communal Jewish school in Muswell Hill, north London and has made documentaries about the Holocaust.

colleague:

Mike Phillips

Mike Phillips has been illustrating everything from picture books to the gruesome Horrible Histories series for almost twenty years. He lives in a small fishing village in England with his family and thinks his own dog, who is also named Poppy.

colleague:

Sarah Gibb

Sarah is an English Illustrator based in Wandsworth, London. She studied at St. Martins before completing her MA in sequential Illustration at Brighton College of Art.

References

• Author's Liz Kessler Official Website