B. 1953
Poet, novelist, and children’s and young adult writer Ralph Fletcher was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He earned a BA at Dartmouth College and an MFA in fiction writing at Columbia University.
 
His poetry for children includes the collections Moving Day (2006) and I Am Wings: Poems About Love (1994), as well as a collection of writing-advice poems, A Writing Kind of Day: Poems for Young Poets (2005), and the nonfiction children’s poetry guide Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out (2002). With his wife, JoAnn Portalupi, he has written several pedagogical guides, including Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide (2001) and Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K–8 (1998).
 
His international consulting work supporting teachers of writing began during the three years he worked on staff development for New York City’s Teachers College Writing Project. He lives with his family in New Hampshire.