CHERYL
CALDWELL
Author/Artist
About Cheryl
Cheryl Caldwell is a sometimes artist, photographer, filmmaker, fisher*, and author who primarily writes Upper Middle Grade novels. She has been known to be unusually lucky. She credits her librarian grandmother with fostering her life-long love of reading. Some of her happiest times as a girl were summers spent shelving books for Mee-Maw—though she admits she might have sneaked off to read or draw more than she shelved. Whether she was in a tree or on the water, you can be sure a book was close at hand and a story was about to happen.
A self-described twelve-year-old at heart,** Cheryl’s sense of wonder and awe about the ocean ripples through her characters’ stories. Her real-life narrative includes shark encounters, sea turtle rescues, a particularly harrowing storm at sea, and being fortunate enough to have a dolphin join her for a swim in the wild.***
When she’s not on (or in) the seas of the Gulf or the Caribbean, she calls Central Florida her home. She’s been fortunate enough to be a Pitch Wars 2019 mentee, a 2020 SCBWI Rising Kite winner for excellence in unpublished children’s writing, and co-host of the MG Book Party podcast. She has twelve humor gift books published as well as a slew of Greeting Cards.
*Mostly, Cheryl goes fishing. Every now and then, she goes catching. Here’s proof.
**at heart
phrase at heart
—in one's real nature, in contrast to how one may appear.
Click here for a zip file of a high-res author headshot where Cheryl is wearing a shirt acceptable for inland restaurants and looks slightly older than twelve. Or click here for the same headshot to open in a new window. Photo credit: Patrick Patterson
*** Told you she was lucky.
