From writer to teacher to writer.

Ann K. Morris writes middle grade and young adult novels. Her first middle grade novel is titled I Taught Benjamin Franklin How to Drive.

Originally from Kansas, Ann earned a B.A. in English and psychology from the University of Kansas, an M.A. in journalism from the University of Iowa, and a B.S. in education from the University of Saint Mary. As a professional writer for 13 years, Ann wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, as well as the book Leawood: A Portrait in Time, a history of Leawood, Kansas.

In 2003, Ann switched from writing to teaching writing, as well as reading. She worked as a middle school English teacher in Kansas and Colorado for 15 years.

As much as Ann enjoyed teaching children how to write, she has switched back to writing herself. However, this time, instead of instead of interviewing people and writing about them, Ann is creating characters and making them say whatever she wants them to say. And it’s a lot more fun!

Ann and her husband have two adult daughters, one son-in-law, and one adorable granddaughter. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three dogs.

A few fun facts…

  • I’m only 4’11”, but my husband is 6’1”. Our two daughters are both about my height. My husband wonders where his genes went!

  • We have rescued 7 dogs over the past 30 years. Their names are Georgia, Beverly, Bridget, Sam, Coco, Mack, and Miss Willow.

  • Some of my favorite books are the City Spies series (James Ponti), The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton), Identical (Ellen Hopkins), and And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie).

  • I’ve been to every state in the U.S., as well as 22 countries. My favorites are Iceland, Costa Rica, Australia, England, the Netherlands… Wait, I think all of them are my favoritres!

  • All of the kids in my literature group in fifth grade had to write a story and then vote on one story to act out, and they chose mine! I’ve loved writing ever since then.

  • Every afternoon, I load my three dogs into the car and we drive to McDonald’s for my large Diet Coke. And when we get home, they get a treat!