Deb Caletti

About Deb Caletti

Debora Lynn Caletti was born in San Rafael, California, and moved with her family to Seattle, Washington, at age eleven. She graduated from Lake Washington High School in Kirkland and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Washington in Seattle. Caletti began writing seriously once her youngest child turned two, and her fifth manuscript, The Queen of Everything, was accepted by Simon & Schuster in 2002, launching her career. She still lives in the Seattle area with her family.

Caletti writes both young adult and adult fiction, often examining family, mental health, and the emotional lives of girls and women. She has published more than twenty novels, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart (2004), Wild Roses (2005), and He's Gone (2013). Her honors include a National Book Award finalist selection, a Michael L. Printz Honor, the Josette Frank Award, and the Washington State Book Award.

Notable Works

A Heart in a Body in the World (2018) follows a teenage girl who runs across the country to process trauma and grief. One Great Lie (2021) centers a young writer who discovers that a prestigious mentorship program conceals a legacy of grooming and sexual abuse by a celebrated author, drawing on the real dynamics of literary power and #MeToo-era reckonings. Plan A (2023) follows a teenager navigating an unplanned pregnancy and the barriers to reproductive healthcare, a subject that has made it a frequent target of challenges alongside Caletti's other work exploring sexuality and abuse. Across this catalog, Caletti's books are recorded as banned in 5 states and 9 districts.