Get the Picture, Jenny Archer? by Ellen Conford

Her decision to start writing full-length books originated out of her frustration at her inability to find a good book at the library for her son. After attending Hofstra University, she launched her career writing short stories for teen magazines.

Her appreciation for the written word was apparent early on: she was an avid reader and later edited her high school’s humor magazine. The author was born in 1942 in New York City. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations (1976) and Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate (1975, Little, Brown), many by Conford herself. Several of her novels were adapted for TV afterschool specials, such as The Alfred G. “She really understood that teenagers have their own, rich complicated world.” Conford reached young people beyond print. When she announced the author’s death on Twitter, “people immediately started posting their memories and favorite lines from her books.” “She’s just a fundamental, essential part of how many of us women learned about the world and about ourselves,” Skurnick added. “Ellen was a fundamental, essential part of 80s YA, which was both humorous but very reality based,” Skurnick told SLJ. Publisher Lizzie Skurnick has begun republishing Conford’s work through her eponymous imprint at Ig Publishing, which is committed to reiussing classic YA literature by authors such as M.E. Though her books were out of print for many years, they still resonate with fans, many of whom still treasure the impact that Conford had on them as readers. And This Is Laura (1977) centers on a girl who feels frustrated that the rest of her family outshines her but who discovers that she has supernatural powers, while To All My Fans, with Love, from Sylvie (1982, both Little, Brown) follows a 1950s teenager attempting to flee her life in foster care for glamorous Hollywood. Her novels effectively conveyed the uncertainty and turmoil of the adolescent experience. & S.) and “Jenny Archer” (Little, Brown) series. Conford wrote more than 30 books, including the “Annabel the Actress” (S. Celebrated YA author Ellen Conford died March 20 on her 73rd birthday, following a long illness.

Get the Picture, Jenny Archer? by Ellen Conford