Amy Ackley

Amy Ackley, a Michigan native, inherited her passion for reading and writing from her father, a writer, creative writing teacher, and literature addict.

Ackley spent her childhood writing and illustrating stories, but took the long road to publication. She earned a B.S. in Human Resource Development from Oakland University, an M.S.A. in Human Resource Administration from Central Michigan University, and wore a variety of career hats (court clerk, flight attendant, and labor relations specialist, to name a few), spending late nights with her childhood love, writing fiction.

Ackley's first novel, Sign Language, won the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest for Young Adult Fiction. Sign Language, drawn from the loss of Ackley's father to kidney cancer when she was a teenager, will be published by Viking in August 2011.

Amy Ackley lives in Brighton, Michigan with her husband and an assortment of high maintenance animals, including three daughters.