Joanna Wiebe

Joanna "Jobo" Wiebe is the author of "The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant", which will be released Jan 14, 2014 - a fact she is super-stoked about. (Er, sorry: a fact about which she is super-stoked.) You should totally friend and/or fan her and add "The Unseemly Education..." to your Want to Read list. :) Like her on FB, too

Hailing from Vancouver Island, Canada, J-Dawg does her absolute best to avoid saying the words "eh" and "about", either of which cause Americans, Brits and Kiwis alike to arch an eyebrow, smirk a little, and say, "You're Canadian, eh?" #SlowClap

So why is she writing books for young adults? Well, she earned a BA in Honors English, during which time she studied creative writing and won a few awards. So she likes writing. Plus, she's big on escaping - which is probably 'cos she spent her teen years feeling absolutely trapped in an Alberta oil town. And the concept of transformation is a big one for her - and YA fiction is THE breeding ground for transformative stories. Dig it.

Obligatory Luv It List: espresso, chocolate, chocolate-covered coffee beans, chocolate martinis, espresso martinis, chocolate-espresso martinis, Savannah cats.