Yorke, Christy 1965-

PERSONAL:

Born September 7, 1965, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Rocky Yorke (a sales manager) and June Elizabeth Young (a special education supervisor); married Robert Jeffrey Cohen (an engineer), June 20, 1987; children: Claire Yorke, Dean Jacob. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: California State University, Northridge, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1987. Hobbies and other interests: Gardening, reading, hiking, spending time with her children.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency, P.O. Box 1069, White Salmon, WA 98672.

CAREER:

Freelance writer, Boise, ID, 1987—. Assistant editor for a teen magazine, Burbank, CA, 1987.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Magic Spells, Bantam (New York, NY), 1999.

The Wishing Garden, Bantam (New York, NY), 2000.

Song of the Seals, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Summer of Glorious Madness, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2004.

The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Christy Yorke told CA: "After publishing adult fiction for seven years, I decided to go in a new direction and write for children and young adults. I've always enjoyed writing teenaged characters. I love their passion and fury and melancholy and openness to new ideas, and have thoroughly enjoyed working on my first young adult novel Girlhood [not yet published].

"Girlhood was inspired by my daughter Claire, who was ten when I began writing it. The story of the healing power of nature, this novel, like all of my books, bled into my life, drawing me into the wonders and magic of the woods. It also influenced my daughter who, like the characters in the story, found her strength and power in nature. For that reason and many others, it is the book that is dearest to my heart."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2000, Patty Engelmann, review of The Wishing Garden, p. 2011.

Publishers Weekly, October 11, 1999, review of Magic Spells, p. 73; July 17, 2000, review of The Wishing Garden, p. 180.

ONLINE

Christy Yorke Home Page,http://www.christyyorke.com (August 10, 2007).