Katherine Applegate

Katherine Applegate was born on October 9, 1956, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and grew up with a passion for animals and storytelling that would define her literary career. She attended the University of Michigan and Florida State University before launching a career in writing that has taken her from mass-market series fiction to Newbery Medal-winning literary novels. Applegate’s journey as a writer has been one of remarkable range and evolution, moving from the hugely popular genre series that made her a household name among young readers in the 1990s to the thoughtful, emotionally resonant novels that have cemented her place among the finest authors writing for children today.

In the 1990s, Applegate created and wrote the phenomenally successful Animorphs series, which ran for 54 books plus companion volumes and followed five teenagers who gain the ability to transform into any animal they touch. The series, which blended science fiction adventure with surprisingly sophisticated explorations of war, morality, loss, and the psychological costs of conflict, sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and was adapted into a television series. Animorphs was notable for taking its young audience seriously, refusing to shy away from the genuine costs of its characters’ battles and exploring themes of trauma and identity with unusual frankness for the genre.

Applegate’s literary evolution continued with The One and Only Bob (2021) and its predecessor The One and Only Ivan (2012), the latter of which won the Newbery Medal. The One and Only Ivan is narrated by a gorilla living in a shopping mall, and is based loosely on the true story of a real gorilla named Ivan. The novel is a masterwork of empathy and voice, exploring themes of captivity, freedom, memory, and the bonds between animals and humans with a tenderness and wisdom that earned it immediate classic status. Applegate has also written the Endling trilogy, a fantasy series about the last of a species, and the picture book Wishtree, among many other works.

Applegate’s writing is characterized by her deep compassion for animal characters, her ability to render non-human perspectives with startling authenticity, and her gift for stories that are simultaneously accessible and genuinely moving. She writes with warmth and intelligence, and her best work achieves the rare quality of speaking to children and adults with equal power. Katherine Applegate lives in California with her husband, fellow author Michael Grant, and continues to produce fiction that surprises and delights readers who think they know what to expect from a beloved favorite author.