Meet the Author
My sons inspired me!
My sons inspired me!
My sons inspired me!
I raised my sons Michael and Casey in a house on the water on Long Island. They are the reason I finally got the guts to become an author. Although I always knew I was a writer, I became terrified to pursue my passion. I stopped writing completely and fell into a creative hibernation. When Casey was born I realized I wanted to leave my bo
I raised my sons Michael and Casey in a house on the water on Long Island. They are the reason I finally got the guts to become an author. Although I always knew I was a writer, I became terrified to pursue my passion. I stopped writing completely and fell into a creative hibernation. When Casey was born I realized I wanted to leave my boys something to remind them of my love. I decided to write a book for them.
Once I started writing again, I was awakened. I felt like a fish who had been caught on a hook, released back into the ocean. I was free, gloriously free to be who I was meant to be!
I love words!
My sons inspired me!
My sons inspired me!
Fun for me is playing with words, searching for the perfect phrases to string together. It’s a thrill! Growing up, books kept me from being lonely. I was an only child— but the characters in books were always with me. I also wrote stories, and even started authoring a novel in 6th grade. It was called The Fortunate Corpse, and its hero (
Fun for me is playing with words, searching for the perfect phrases to string together. It’s a thrill! Growing up, books kept me from being lonely. I was an only child— but the characters in books were always with me. I also wrote stories, and even started authoring a novel in 6th grade. It was called The Fortunate Corpse, and its hero (definitely an anti-hero) was Michael Baron. In my mind, he looked and acted like Pete from The Mod Squad, a show I watched in daily reruns when I came home from school.
My religion is love
My sons inspired me!
My religion is love
On my home page I state that I’m an author who is being the change one word at a time. That change is love. Like Shakespeare, I examine humanity in crisis and imperiled relationships. I want to know why people hurt each other. I want to portray the devastation, so perhaps people will take notice of their actions. We’re all human, with mor
On my home page I state that I’m an author who is being the change one word at a time. That change is love. Like Shakespeare, I examine humanity in crisis and imperiled relationships. I want to know why people hurt each other. I want to portray the devastation, so perhaps people will take notice of their actions. We’re all human, with more in common than not. Love is the answer to everything.
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love.”
—Sophocles
Bio
Selene Castrovilla is an award-winning nonfiction and fiction author who is dedicated to uncovering hidden truths about both our nation's history and about ourselves. Through reflection, we can be our own change.
Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette received numerous accolades, including the Society of School Librarians International Book Award Honor and the California Reading Association Eureka! Nonfiction Honor. It was a Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, and a Booklist Top Ten Biography for Youth.
Revolutionary Rogues: John André and Benedict Arnold was a National Council for the Social Studies and Children's Book Council Notable Trade Social Studies Book, a Kansas Reading Circle choice, a Bank Street College Best Book and featured on School Library Journal’s recommended reading for American history list. Selene was awarded Tappantown Historical Society’s Achievement Award for Rogues.
Her first book, By the Sword, followed the harrowing plight of Long Island native and teacher turned soldier Benjamin Tallmadge, who escaped from the Battle of Long Island and returned to save his horse. By the Sword was an International Literacy Association recommended book, and NYS summer reading.
Upon Secrecy, her second book, detailed the thrilling tale of Long Island’s Culper Spies. It was the winner of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award among other accolades. Selene holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and a BA in English from New York University.
Selene Castrovilla’s contemporary teen fiction is “intense, gritty, lyrical, romantic, hopeful and powerful at the same time.” She has won numerous awards and accolades, including six honors for Melt, Book One of the Rough Romance Trilogy.
A reviewer wrote, “Melt…reminded me of why I love to read. My heart was literally pounding…I couldn’t put it down.” Signs of Life, Book Two, has been called “a literary masterpiece.” Unpunished, the shocking conclusion, is in the works!
Selene's first women's fiction, Luna Rising, won the Book Excellence Award.
EDUCATION
Selene holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and a BA in English from New York University.
AFFILIATIONS
Selene was the Founder and Regional Advisor of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Long Island Chapter.
She is a member of:
Pen American Center Children’s Book Committee
Bank Street College of Education Writers Lab
Long Island Children’s Writers & Illustrators (former co-chair)
She has been a speaker and exhibitor at conferences including:
American Association of School Librarians
American Library Association
American Historical Association
Book Expo America
National Council of Teachers of English
National Council of Teachers of Social Studies
NerdCamp Long Island
NerdCamp New Jersey
Young Adult Library Services Association
Selene was a finalist in Newsday's Best of Long Island competition, in the "Favorite Author" category.
MELT , Selene Castrovilla's gritty teen novel about domestic violence, won six awards and honors.
Podcast Guest
Short Story Reading on Story Works Reading Series
Description from the episode:
On today’s Story Works Reading Series, Selene Castrovilla reads the short story “Careless Whistle.” If the title brings to mind a certain ’80s pop tune, it (like everything in great fiction) is intentional.
Podcast Guest
Chatting on Live True
Such a fun interview with Lisa Lucca, host of Live True! We touched on so many subjects and laughed a lot. Check it out!
Podcast Guest
Conversations With Creative Women
I was a guest on the Sandi Klein Show, where she had Conversations With Creative Women. We talked about hidden history, and how I uncover it--as well as my other genres and how I manage to juggle them. Did you know there was a women's tea party during the American Revolution? Learn about this and so much more.
Behind the Scenes: How I work with my amazing editor!
A fun peek at the creative process behind my American history book for elementary readers: Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington & the Marquis de Lafayette!