Born and raised in Queens, New York, I have always been obsessed with stories. At five years old, I could recite We're Going on a Bear Hunt from memory. Ironically, despite my love of books, reading and writing did not come easily to me. I have ADHD and learning disabilities that affect my visual tracking and working memory. Doctors told my family I'd never read or write coherently. What they didn't account for was the sheer, psychotic willpower of a hyper-fixated nine-year-old determined to read Deltora Quest, or a mother who was a teacher and willing to spend hours each night helping her daughter practice. Together, we proved them wrong. My love for stories kept growing. In high school, I was best friends with the librarian who let me check out as many books as I wanted, and I regularly got in trouble for reading during class.
Ergo, no one was surprised that I went on to study creative writing, receiving my BA and MA in English Literature at Fordham University. That's when I started my first kid-lit manuscript and realized that being an author was an actual job. I knew I needed health insurance, though. Once I graduated, I pursued my other passion: teaching English. After all, I loved kids, the craft of writing, and talking about books. Why not teach? I worked as an 8th grade ELA teacher in Brooklyn. I convinced middle schoolers who claimed they hated reading that Shakespeare was cool, taught them about dangling modifiers, and helped them discover themselves in the vast world of literature. My students' enthusiasm reminded me that I wanted to write books.
After teaching for two years, I attended Simmons University and earned my MFA in writing for children. As I studied, I found myself returning to my childhood. I'm a second generation Greek American, so I grew up in a Greek household. I only spoke Greek to my grandparents. I spent my summers in the village in Xios (our island). My family and our history became my inspiration. I often write about the intersection between intergenerational ties, immigration, and culture. My work is a love letter to the village who raised me. Now I'm back to teaching ELA full time. I work with sixth graders and share my love of reading with them. When I'm not reading and writing, I listen to Taylor Swift and eat my grandmother's cooking.
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Books by Evgenia Mantikas
