53 Word Bio
Christina Baker Kline is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The Exiles, Orphan Train, and A Piece of the World, and the author and/or editor of five nonfiction books. She is published in more than 40 countries; her books are taught in universities, colleges, and high schools.
104 Word Bio
A #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The Exiles, Orphan Train, and A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline is published in 40 countries. Her novels have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among other prizes, and have been chosen by hundreds of communities, universities and schools as “One Book, One Read” selections. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the NYT Book Review, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, LitHub, Psychology Today, and Slate.
225 Word Bio
A #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The Exiles, Orphan Train, and A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline is published in 40 countries. Her novels have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among other prizes, and have been chosen by hundreds of communities, universities and schools as “One Book, One Read” selections. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the NYT Book Review, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, LitHub, Psychology Today, and Slate.
Kline was born in Cambridge, England, and raised there as well as in the American South and Maine. She is a graduate of Yale, Cambridge, and the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow in Fiction Writing. She has taught fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, English literature, literary theory, and women’s studies at Yale, NYU, and the University of Virginia, and served as Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University for four years. She is a recipient of several Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowships and Writer-in-Residence Fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Kline lives in New York City and Southwest Harbor, Maine with her husband, David Kline. They are the parents of three sons, Hayden, Will, and Eli.
474 Word Bio
A #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The Exiles, Orphan Train, and A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline is published in 40 countries.
Her novels have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, the Inter-Allied Union Prize of the Cercle Interallie (Paris), and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among other prizes, and have been chosen by hundreds of communities, universities and schools as “One Book, One Read” selections. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the NYT Book Review, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, LitHub, Psychology Today, and Slate.
Christina Baker Kline was born in England and raised in the American South and Maine. She is a graduate of Yale (B.A.), Cambridge (M.A.), and the University of Virginia (M.F.A.), where she was a Hoyns Fellow in Fiction Writing. A resident of New York City and Southwest Harbor, Maine, she is married to David Kline and has three sons: Hayden, Will, and Eli. She serves on the Authors Guild Council of the Authors Guild, where she heads the gala committee. She is on the advisory boards of the Center for Fiction (NYC), the Jesup Library (Bar Harbor, ME), the Montclair Literary Festival (NJ), the Kauai Writers Conference (HI), and Roots & Wings (NJ), on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (NYC), and a member of the Author Circle of Poets & Writers. She is an Author-Mentor for the BookEnds program at Stony Brook University and an Author-Ambassador for Room to Read, a global nonprofit that works to improve literacy and gender inequality.
Kline’s latest novel, The Exiles (2020), an instant NYT and Indie Next bestseller and Inter-Allied Union Prize Winner, captures the hardship, oppression, opportunity and hope of a trio of women’s lives—two English convicts and an orphaned Aboriginal girl — in nineteenth-century Australia. A Piece of the World (2017), also an instant bestseller, explores the real-life relationship between the artist Andrew Wyeth and the subject of his best-known painting, Christina’s World. Orphan Train (2013), about a little-known but significant piece of American history, spent more than two years on the NYT bestseller list, including five weeks at #1. Orphan Train and A Piece of the World have been optioned for film; The Exiles has been optioned for television and Kline is executive producing.
Kline has written five other novels — The Way Life Should Be, Bird in Hand, Desire Lines, Sweet Water, and Orphan Train Girl— and written or edited five nonfiction books: The Conversation Begins (with Christina L. Baker), Child of Mine, Room to Grow, About Face (with Anne Burt), and Always too Soon (with Allison Gilbert). She recently contributed to the anthologies Stories from Suffragette City (2020) and Lolita in the Afterlife (2021).
Scholarships that Christina Funds:
•Christina Baker Kline Scholarship for Maine Writers, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance: This scholarship covers the cost of both a one-year membership to the MWPA and registration fees for two MWPA writing workshops during the year, as well as career and manuscript consultation with Christina.
•Christina Baker Scholarship for Indigenous Students, College of The Atlantic: The four-year scholarship is awarded to students with financial need, with a preference toward Wabanaki and Native American students and students engaged in gender studies and literature.
Organizations that Christina Supports:
•The Authors Guild (NYC): Supports working writers. Advocates for the rights of writers by supporting free speech, fair contracts, and copyright. Creates community and fights for a living wage.
•Poets & Writers (NYC): Fosters the professional development of poets and writers, promotes communication throughout the literary community, and helps create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.
•The Center for Fiction (NYC): The only nonprofit literary organization in the U.S. solely dedicated to celebrating fiction. Connects readers and writers.
•Room to Read, a global nonprofit that works to improve literacy and gender inequality.
•Roots & Wings, a NJ-based foster-care advocacy group: Provides young adults who age out of New Jersey’s foster care system with safe housing, case management, education, counseling, and life skills in order to empower them toward self-sufficiency.
•PEN (NYC): Unites writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defends the liberties that make it possible.
•Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance: Founded in 1975 by a group of writers and publishers, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance works to enrich the literary life and culture of Maine.
•The Jesup/Bar Harbor Memorial Library (ME): A vibrant center for educational exchange, creative community collaboration, and knowledge-sharing where we connect people to ideas, people to information, and people to people.
•Southwest Harbor Public Library (ME): The Southwest Harbor Public Library’s mission is to “inspire and support the enjoyment of life-long learning, the love of literacy, and the exploration of new ideas, welcoming everyone through its doors.”
•Island Readers & Writers (ME): Each year, IRW brings book-based educational programs to over 2,800 children, grades PreK-8, living on Maine’s coastal islands and in remote communities in Washington County – from Casco to Cobscook Bay.
•Friends of Acadia (ME): Friends of Acadia preserves, protects, and promotes stewardship of the outstanding natural beauty, ecological vitality, and distinctive cultural resources of Acadia National Park and surrounding communities for the inspiration and enjoyment of current and future generations.
•Harbor House, Southwest Harbor (ME): A non-profit community service organization serving the communities of Mount Desert Island. With seven program areas and a roster of more than 40 health, fitness, educational, sports, community-based and youth-focused classes and activities, Harbor House serves every age group and every economic level and has done so for 55 years and counting.