KL Going

Born Kelly Louise Going
(1973-08-21) August 21, 1973
Rhinebeck, New York, USA
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Period 1973–present
Genre Fiction for children and young adults (YA fiction)
Subject author
Notable awards Michael Printz Honor
Spouse Dustin Adams
Children Ashton Paul
Relatives William and Linda Going
Website
klgoing.com

KL Going (born August 21, 1973)[1] is the award winning author of numerous books for children and teens. Her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World was named a Michael Printz Honor Book [2] by the American Library Association, and was included on YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults list and their list of Best Books for the Past Decade. Her books have been Booksense picks, Scholastic Book Club choices, Junior Library Guild selections, NY Public Library Best Books for the Teenage, and winners of state book awards. They’ve been featured by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Children's Book Council as Best Books of the year. Her work has also been published in Korea, Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain, and the UK, and her novel Fat Kid Rules the World is now an independent film. It premiered at the SXSW film festival and won an Audience Award.

K.L. began her career working at Curtis Brown, Ltd., one of the oldest literary agencies in New York City. She used this inner knowledge of publishing to write Writing and Selling the Young Adult Novel—a how-to book for aspiring writers, published by Writer's Digest. She has also written short stories for several anthologies and multiple picture books.

Biography

Going was born in Rhinebeck, New York.[1] Her mother, Linda Going, is a librarian and her father, William Going, is a biologist. She was raised on the Borden Estate in Wallkill, New York. She wrote her first (unpublished) novel in high school and continued writing as a hobby throughout college. Going attended Eastern University in St. David's, PA as a sociology major and graduated at the top of her class. After graduation, she did volunteer service with Mennonite Central Committee in New Orleans, LA, teaching adult literacy. When she returned to New York she began working in publishing for the literary agency, Curtis Brown, Ltd. After her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World, was published she left the agency to write part-time. In addition to writing, she managed an independent bookstore in Cold Spring, NY for the Merritt Bookstore.

In the course of her writing career, Going has published three young adult novels, plus three novels for middle grade readers age 8 – 12, a picture book, and a reference book titled Writing and Selling the YA Novel published by Writer's Digest.[3] She also has additional picture books and novels under contract. Going's books have been published by Penguin Random House, Harcourt Houghton Mifflin, Simon & Schuster, and Writer's Digest. and have won many awards and honors. Her books have been produced as audio books, made into a feature film, and the rights have been optioned for television and Broadway. She has also written short stories for several anthologies, including Rush Hour Volume 3, Full House, and No Such Thing as the Real World.

In addition to her writing, KL Going also teaches workshops for the Highlights Foundation, speaks at schools and libraries around the country, participates in Skype visits with schools around the world, and teaches language arts part-time at a private school in upstate New York called the Homestead School.

Young adult fiction

Middle grade fiction

Picture books

Movie adaptation

Fat Kid Rules the World was screened at South by Southwest, winning the Audience Award for Narrative Spotlight.[5] Acclaimed actor Matthew Lillard directed the film. The movie script was written by Michael Galvin and Peter Speakman. The film starred Jacob Wysocki as Troy, Matt O'Leary as Curt/Marcus, Billy Campbell as Mr. Billings, Dylan Arnold as Dayle, and Lili Simmons as Isabel.[6][7] The film was scored by Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and shot on location in Seattle, Washington.

Works

References

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