Ellen Hopkins (born March 26, 1955) is an American novelist currently residing in Carson City, Nevada.[1] Hopkins was adopted to Albert and Valerie Wagner when they were 72 and 42, respectively. She wrote her first poem, published in the Palm Springs Desert Sun, when she was nine. She attended high school in Santa Ynez Valley and went on to study Journalism in college before dropping out to start a family and a business. When that marriage failed, she sold her business and began freelance work. She remarried and has since had three children (Cristal, Kelly, and Jason), and adopted one (Orion). Since becoming a novelist, she has published several books.
Novels
In addition to these novels, she has also written over 20 nonfiction stories for children. Her novel Crank is based on her oldest daughter's struggle with a methamphetamine addiction. It is said that the baby born at the end of "Crank" is Orion, Hopkins' youngest son. Her up-coming book, "Identical," is about "a father's twisted obsession for one of his twin daughters," which will be released in August of 2008.[2]
