Ms Lisle's writing career began with a degree in English Literature from Smith College in 1969. She spent the next two years in Atlanta, Georgia, working for VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). Her time with VISTA inspired her try her hand at journalism, so she enrolled in the appropriate coursework at Georgia State University. She then worked as a journalist for the next 10 years, before moving to New Jersey in 1981 with her husband and young daughter.
Her foray into writing for children was sparked during a writing workshop she took after that move, where she was introduced to children's book editor Richard Jackson. Jackson accepted her first book, The Dancing Cats of Applesap, in 1983. It was published in 1984, and Jackson has worked with her ever since.
Says Jackson:
"Janet Taylor Lisle is drawn to the mystery of things, to the ambiguity of life that books for children often gloss over...her interest is in what's hidden. As well as why."
Janet Taylor Lisle was born in Englewood, New Jersey, on February 13, 1947. The oldest - and only girl - of five kids, she grew up in rural Rhode Island and in Connecticut, and spent her summers in Rhode Island. She now lives on the seacoast of Rhode Island with her two cats, Kayla and Roosevelt, and her husband, Richard.
Sources:
Birthday Bios: Janet Taylor Lisle (Children's Literature Network)
Janet Taylor Lisle (Biography.jrank.org)
Janet Taylor Lisle (Penguin.com)
Janet Taylor Lisle (New England Independent Booksellers Association)
Janet Taylor Lisle - Author Page (official site)
An Interview With Janet Taylor Lisle - With Booksellers Baker and Taylor (via official site)
The truth is never easy to define in this novelist's provocative and surprising stories - Riverbank Review Author Profile 2002 (via official site)
