Susan Taylor Brown is the author of the award-winning middle grade verse novel Hugging the Rock, the picture books Oliver’s Must-Do List and Can I Pray With My Eyes Open?, and the non-fiction book Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom. In addition, Susan has published 43 books for the educational market, including 39 ESL books for the International market. More than 200 of Susan’s articles and stories have appeared in magazines for children and adults.

A popular speaker in the schools and at writing conferences, she has served on the faculty for the Highlights Foundation Chautauqua Conference. She is also a former newspaper columnist for the New Orleans Times Picayune and past instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. Susan has been the recipient of several grants from the Arts Council Silicon Valley, which allowed her to be Writer-in-Residence for the San Jose Alternative Schools At-Risk program and to teach poetry to incarcerated teens.

In addition to writing, Susan does motivational speaking on topics such as taking risks and having the courage to follow your dreams, teaches writing and conducts workshops on social networking for authors.

She lives in San Jose, California, with her husband, Erik, her German Shepherd, Cassie, and more than 8,000 books. When she's not writing or reading, she spends her time training Cassie for her work as a therapy dog and working in her native plant garden.