Martine Leavitt (born 1953) is a Canadian-American writer of young adult novels and a creative writing instructor.
Biography Leavitt was born in 1953 in Taber, Alberta. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary and a Master of Fine Arts from Vermont College. She lives with her husband in High River, Alberta.
Martine Leavitt writes novels for young adults. Heck Superhero (2004) was a Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice and ALA Best Books for Young Adults selection. The Dollmage (2006) was also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults selection. Keturah and Lord Death (2006) was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, a Junior Library Guild Premier Selection, a Booklist Editors' Choice, one of Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books, and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age selection. My Book of Life by Angel (2012) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award. It was also a Horn Book Fanfare book, a Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choice, a Booklist Best Book of the Year, and a Junior Library Guild selection. Calvin (2015) won the 2016 Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature.
She taught creative writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts, a short-residency MFA program, where she served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair from 2022 to 2023.
Selected works
Novels
The Dragon's Tapestry (1992) Prism Moon (1993) The Taker's Key (1998) The Dollmage (2001) Tom Finder (2003) Heck Superhero (2004) Keturah and Lord Death (2006) My Book of Life by Angel (2012) Blue Mountain (2014) Calvin (2015) Buffalo Flats (2023) Whenever You Are (2026)
Awards Year Title AwardCategoryResultRef. 1993 The Dragon's Tapestry AML AwardYoung Adult LiteratureWinner 1998 The Taker's Key AML AwardYoung Adult Literature 2003 Tom Finder Mr. Christie's Book Award12 and up 2004 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award—2004Heck Superhero Governor General's AwardEnglish-language children's literatureShortlisted2008 Premio Paolo Ungari/UNICEF—Finalist2006Keturah and Lord Death Foreword INDIES Book of the Year AwardYoung Adult Fiction (Children's)Bronze WinnerNational Book AwardYoung People's LiteratureFinalist2008 Forest of Reading AwardsWhite Pine AwardWinner The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon—2012My Book of Life by Angel Los Angeles Times Book PrizeYoung Adult NovelFinalist2013 Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award—Winner 2015 Calvin Whitney AwardGeneral Youth Fiction 2016 Governor General's AwardEnglish-language children's literature
References
External links
Interview by Cynthia Leitich Smith Interview by Ann Dee Ellis Interview by Carol McAfee