About the Author: Biography

Amy Butler Greenfield is an award-winning author of history and historical fiction. Her most recent book, A Perfect Red, is a history of the quest for a legendary red dye called cochineal. It garnered high praise from critics including Diane Ackerman, who called it "a superbly researched history of cochineal red, full of angles and tangents, curiosities and arcana." Among other honors, A Perfect Red won the 2006 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction by an American author, and the 2008 Veolia Prix du Livre Environnement.

Amy also writes for young readers. Her first novel, Virginia Bound, is an historical adventure set in England and Virginia in 1627. It was selected as one of the Best Books of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education and won the Beacon of Freedom Award for children's history writing. Amy has also won the SCBWI Merit Award for her nonfiction work in children’s magazines.

Raised in the Adirondacks, Amy was educated at Williams College and later studied history at Oxford on a Marshall Scholarship. She now lives with her family in Oxfordshire.

Want to know even more? Then check out these links:

• To learn more about what inspired her to write A Perfect Red, click here.
  
• To learn more about what inspired her to write Virginia Bound, click here.
  
• A Q & A with Amy, especially for young readers
  
• Cynthia Leitich Smith’s interview of Amy on her outstanding children’s literature blog, Cynsations.
  
• David Mehegan’s interview of Amy in the Boston Globe.
  
• An article about Amy in the Williams Alumni Magazine.
  
• A Q & A with Amy on the HarperCollins site:
  
• An article about the writing of A Perfect Red in Three Monkeys Online.
  
• A radio interview of Amy on New Hampshire Public Radio.
  
• A public radio interview from the show "Here on Earth".