Mindy McGinnis

About Mindy McGinnis

Mindy McGinnis grew up in Ohio as a ninth-generation farmer, an upbringing she credits with shaping her matter-of-fact attitude toward the hard facts of life, survival, and death. She studied English literature and religion at Otterbein University, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree. Before becoming a full-time novelist, she worked as a school librarian—a job that put her in direct contact with young readers and left her with a lasting commitment to literary access. She continues to volunteer her services to financially disadvantaged school districts and communities.

Dark Fiction with a Purpose

McGinnis writes what she calls "dark fiction with purpose"—stories that don't look away from violence, addiction, grief, or systemic injustice. Her dystopian debut, Not a Drop to Drink (2013), follows a girl who has spent her entire life defending the only clean water source for miles. Its companion novel, In a Handful of Dust (2014), picks up years later as two survivors make a desperate cross-country journey toward California.

Her most widely banned title, The Female of the Species (2016), confronts rape culture head-on through three interconnected narrators in a small Ohio town. It was named one of the ALA's Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults in 2017. Heroine (2019), which follows a college-bound softball player whose opioid addiction begins with a legitimate prescription, earned five starred reviews and made the ALA's Top Ten Best Fiction and Amazing Audiobooks lists for 2020.

Awards and Recognition

A Madness So Discreet (2015), a gothic mystery set in a Victorian asylum, won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2016—one of the most prestigious honors in crime and mystery writing. Be Not Far from Me (2020), a survival story set in the Smoky Mountains, earned starred reviews from five major publications and appeared on the ALA's Top Ten Best Fiction and Amazing Audiobooks lists for 2021.

All of McGinnis's novels are published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Her work has been recognized repeatedly by the American Library Association—making the frequent targeting of her books for school removal a particularly striking irony.