Mary Kay Carson

Mary Kay Carson is the author of more than 50 books for young people about wildlife, space, weather, nature, science, and history. Her works encompass a wide range of juvenile genres, from nonfiction to picture books as well as historical fiction chapter books.

Carson’s books have received more than a dozen starred reviews, as well as multiple awards, including the 2023 Giverny Award, opens a new window for Best Children’s Science Picture Book for The River That Wolves Moved, opens a new window and the 2019 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books, opens a new window for Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, opens a new window. She partnered with her husband, photographer-videographer Tom Uhlman, opens a new window, to write and photo-illustrate seven titles in the acclaimed Scientists in the Field series, including The Bat Scientists,, opens a new window an American Library Association 2011 Notable Children's Book for Middle Readers, and The Tornado Scientist, opens a new window, a State Library of Ohio Choose To Read Ohio, opens a new window title for 2021-22.

Carson has been a full-time freelance writer and children’s book author for 30 years. She lives in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood with her husband in a century-plus-old house surrounded by urban greenspace, deer, hawks, woodchucks, coyotes, and songbirds.

For more information, please visit her website MaryKayCarson.com, opens a new window or her entry in Something About the Author, opens a new window (vol. 377, Gale, 2022, pp. 58-63).

The Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library's Writer-in-Residence serves as the Library's literary ambassador to the community by fostering engagement between the Library and local writers, providing instruction on the craft of writing, both online and in-person, and serving as the Library’s representative in the local literary arts scene.