Kimberly Mallory grew up in Upstate, New York, where she spent most of her summers swimming in the pristine lakes between the Catskills and the Adirondack Mountains.  

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 As a young girl, she fell in love with reading stories from all genres.  Her favorite author was Judy Blume, and Kimberly read every one of her books.  Although there weren't many stories about girls who looked like her, she still found commonalities between herself and the characters she read about. Ultimately, Kimberly believes that no matter where we come from, we all share the experience of what it means to be human.  As an author and playwright, she believes it's important  that young people see themselves in the stories they read. Diverse stories matter!  So when she began writing her own stories---from YA to Middle Grade to Picture Books---Kimberly became determined to create the kinds of characters and worlds she wished she could have encountered in books she read while growing up.  As a dramatist, her short plays feature characters' grappling with real world problems in ways that challenge audiences to reflect on their own lives.