“Oregon has enough variety for a thousand writers.”

— excerpt from Oregon: The Writer's Toronto

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ABOUT APRIL

oted author Roald Dahl helped April Henry take her
first step as a writer. When April was eleven, she sent the famous children's author a short story about a frog who loved peanut butter. The day he received it, Dahl had lunch with the editor of an international children's magazine and read her the story. She contacted April and asked to publish it.

April's first book, Circles of Confusion, was short-listed for the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award, and was nominated for the Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Award. It was also chosen for the Booksense 76 list, and the Oregonian Book Club, and was a Mystery Guild Editor's Choice. It has been translated into Japanese and French. Other books in the Claire Montrose series are Square in the Face, Heart-Shaped Box, and Buried Diamonds.

The stand-alone thriller Learning to Fly was April's fourth book. It was a Booksense pick, got starred reviews in Library Journal and Booklist, was named one of Library Journal's Best of 2002, and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. It was translated into Dutch, Japanese, and French.

Shock Point, April’s first young-adult thriller, was published by Putnam in 2006.  It was an ALA Quick Pick, a Top 10 Books for Teens nominee, a New York Library’s Books for the Teen Age book, named to the Texas Tayshas list, and a finalist for Philadelphia’s Young Readers Choice Award.  Her next young-adult book, Fire, Kiss, Electric Chair, a thriller about a girl who goes undercover in an environmental extremist group, will be published in 2008.

April lives in Portland, Ore., with her husband and daughter. She currently works in public relations for a national health care organization. Previous jobs include German translator, cook, housekeeper, hospital admitting clerk, life drawing model, and a brief stint as the girl who jumps out of a cake.

(media: click here for a hi-resolution photo of April)

We knew her when...April with her co-workers in November 1997, the day she was offered a two-book deal with Harper Collins.

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