Ellis McHale 

Ellis McHale writes contemporary Southern literary fiction and middle grade novels set in Lawhoma Hills, a fictional Oklahoma woodland town shaped by land, memory, family, and community. An Oklahoma native, she creates interconnected stories centered on the people, traditions, businesses, and landscapes woven throughout the valley.

She is a mother and grandmother who finds her truest rhythm in the garden, on a porch at dusk, or with twin grandsons tugging at her curtains. She writes with dirt under her nails in a house filled with music and dogs underfoot and believes a Sunday nap is an honest form of restoration.

She first encountered The Color Purple in eighth grade and never forgot the weight a story could carry. She returns often to writers such as Wally Lamb, Pat Conroy, and Wendell Berry, drawn to novels where place shapes people and memory refuses to loosen its hold. If a Ken Burns documentary is playing somewhere, she will probably find it.

Ellis is the author of the Lawhoma Hills adult series and the Lawhoma Hills: Camp Run Amuck middle grade novels. She is also the founder of Pink Door Publishing.