Shirley Reva Vernick made her foray into publishing as a high school junior, when Reader’s Digest carried her quip, “Is a belly dancer a waist of energy?” in its Toward More Picturesque Speech column. She has been writing novels, essays, articles, and to-do lists ever since. 

The American Library Association named Shirley’s debut novel, The Blood Lie, to its list of Best Fiction Books for Young Readers. The Blood Lie also won the Simon Wiesenthal Once Upon A World Book Award and earned a director’s mention in the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction. The Blood Lie was named an Honor Book in the Los Angeles Unified School District Awards, the Skipping Stones Award, and the Sydney Taylor Book Awards. 

Remember Dippy won the Dolly Gray Literature Award from the Council for Exceptional Children. The Black Butterfly is a Junior Library Guild selection. Falling Stars will be released in 2021. Shirley’s shorter work has appeared in Salon, Cosmopolitan, Highlights, Good Housekeeping, and several literary journals. 

Shirley graduated from Cornell University, where she won the university's Fleischman Scholarship for Writing Achievement. She continues her connection to her alma mater by participating in the university’s Prisoner Express program, which creates opportunities for incarcerated men and women to practice creative self-expression.

Shirley also helps run storybee.org, a free storytelling web service that is used as a literacy tool on five continents. NASA used it as a storytelling model for its Imagine Mars program, which combined storytelling and science for K-12 students. 

But what is all this without dogs? Shirley fosters homeless canines for her local animal shelter, because a day without dogs is like…oh, banish the thought!