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Linda Gruenberg

Children’s book author and artist Linda Gruenberg is a horse lover at heart. She has done almost every possible thing you can do with horses, including having them mow the lawn, drive single and double, rake the hay field with a horse-drawn rake, swim, jump logs and ditches, vault, stand in the saddle to pick apples—you get the point. It’s only fitting that her lifelong passion led her to write Hummer, a heartwarming middle-grade novel about a forlorn girl whose life is changed by an Arabian horse and its owner.

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As Linda conveys, if you have horses, neighbor kids eventually show up, and she loves getting a child up on a horse and seeing their eyes light up. She even formed a vaulting club in order to teach kids how to safely ride her horses. Linda enjoys sharing her love of horses with children.

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Linda likes starting out a book concept by asking, “What if…?” and churning that question in her mind until it turns into a story. She believes that strong and memorable characters are so integral to a great story, and she can hear her characters’ voices sometimes, propelling her into deep characterization. It’s during these times that she even enjoys the company of her characters. She hopes that her story’s characters allow her readers to step into someone else’s shoes for a while and help them see the world from a different perspective and build empathy.

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When Linda isn’t writing uplifting stories of self-discovery for middle-graders, she enjoys painting watercolors of horses, carving, restoring horse-drawn vehicles, building hitching posts, and any other horse-related project. She also plays the hammered dulcimer, a percussion stringed instrument dating to 900 A.D.

Linda is an American enjoying life in Lapland, Sweden, after living in Northern Michigan for many years. She and her partner have two horses along with a family of hares and some wild reindeer who sometimes frolic in their yard.

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Book Publications

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2021 - Hummer, 30th Anniversary Edition, Kenda Press. An uplifting coming-of-age story of grit, perseverance, and self-discovery for a young girl whose difficult home life is changed forever by a horse. 181 pages, paperback.

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2021 - Good Luck Chestnut, Kenda Press. Children's picture book, A playground of rollicking slant rhymes hurtling itself toward the last simple message that every child deserves to hear. 44 pages, paperback.

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2020 - The Isa Books, Learn to Read Picture Books.

  • The Isa Book 1: Isa's Very First Book

  • The Isa Book 2: Isa's Very Second Book

  • The Isa Book 3: Isa's Snowboard Book

  • The Isa Book 4: Isa's Soccer Book

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1990 - Hummer. Two-hundred page children's novel. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. German translation, 1991. Swedish and Norwegian translations, 1992. Nominated for the Golden Sowers award in Nebraska and the Mark Twain award in Missouri, 1992. 

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Creative Writing Teaching and Reading Gigs

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1998 - 2003 Interlochen Center for the Arts: Originated the Junior High Creative Writing program and taught it for five summers there.

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2010 - 2013 Pajala - Jokkmokk - Kiruna - Gällivare in Sweden: "Celebrating Words" Taught annual week-long creative writing workshops. 

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2010 - 2013 Kolari, Finland: Taught 1-day Creative Writing workshops in the classroom each year.

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1993: Library Workshop: week-long workshop at Albion Public Library: "Sizzling Summer Stories."

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Have given public author readings at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Hope College, the Kalamazoo Public Library, Houghton Lake Schools, and Western Michigan University, among others.

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Education

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1993 MFA Western Michigan University

1986 BA English Hope College

 

Grants & Awards 

1991 - Michigan Council for the Arts. Creative Artist Grant

1993 - Narrative essay in River Oak Review nominated for a Pushcart Prize

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