SATA

PERSONAL

Born in WI; married; children: four.

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, B.A.; also holds a M.A.

ADDRESS

• Home - IL.
• Agent - Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency, Chloe Seager, The Factory, 1 Park Hill, London SW4 9NS, England.

CAREER

Writer. Previously, worked as an elementary school teacher and instructional coach.

Playing piano, reading, doing escape rooms, puzzles, singing, watching television shows.

WRITINGS

• The Circus of Stolen Dreams (novel), Philomel Books (New York, NY), 2020
• The Edge of In Between, Viking (New York, NY), 2022
• The Night Train, Viking (New York, NY), 2024

SIDELIGHTS

Lorelei Savaryn is a writer based in Illinois. Born in Wisconsin, she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and also obtained a master’s degree. Before becoming a full-time writer, Savaryn worked as an elementary school teacher and an instructional coach for teachers. When not writing, Savaryn likes to read, play the piano, do escape rooms and other types of puzzles, and sing.

Savaryn enjoyed books and reading as a child, but her aspirations to become an author did not emerge until later in her life. In an interview with Kate J. Foster on Foster’s self-titled website, Savaryn explained: “I realized I wanted to seriously try and write as an adult in 2007 when I was still in college, but it took me ten whole years to muster up the courage to really sit down and finish a manuscript.” The manuscript she completed was for a young adult novel. Her attempts to bring that book to the market were unsuccessful, so Savaryn shelved the manuscript and began writing a novel for middle grade readers. She used the middle grade novel’s manuscript when participating in a program called Pitch Wars. In an interview with a contributor to the Travel and Write Today website, Savaryn explained: “Pitch Wars is a really great program where aspiring authors apply for mentorship from industry professionals, who are often editors or authors, or sometimes agents as well. From a pool of about 3,000 or more applicants, about one hundred mentees get chosen each year. Those mentees work with their mentors for about four months before preparing a pitch, and their opening words for an agent showcase, where literary agents can request you send them your manuscript if they like your sample and pitch.” Savaryn’s mentors were Lacee Little and Juliana Brandt. After working with them, Savaryn obtained an agent, who made a deal with a publisher to release her first book, The Circus of Stolen Dreams.

The Circus of Stolen Dreams focuses on a girl named Andrea, who is still grieving three years after the disappearance of her younger brother, Francis. She stumbles upon a strange circus called “Reverie: Land of Dreams,” which promises to delete the bad memories of attendees. Andrea wants to forget the night her brother vanished, but instead she discovers one of Francis’s nightmares. Andrea believes Francis might be stuck in the circus, and she determines to save him. “Although this debut is full of appealing elements, the story as a whole falls as flat as its characters,” suggested a Kirkus Reviews critic. In a starred review in Booklist, Emily Graham asserted: “Savaryn’s unconventional story makes for a bewitching debut, filled with dazzling descriptions and real surprises.”

In the same interview with Foster, Savaryn offered this advice to aspiring writers: “This industry comes with a lot of rejection, and I think it’s a good idea to have a plan for how to take care of your mental health when you hear less-than-favorable news. It starts early with querying agents, or applying to mentorship programs. It continues when you go on sub. And it will continue when your book releases. I haven’t found that rejection has necessarily gotten easier, but I have found ways to make sure I take things in stride and focus in on the things that matter to me, which is writing stories that connect with kids.”

In The Edge of In Between, Lottie is a painter who uses her magic to give her artwork a boost to make it appear to be almost alive. Her innate magic has allowed her to flourish in the Land of the Living. However, after the sudden death of her parents, she loses her magic and is no longer able to see color, which is known as a Living Gray. She is sent to live with her uncle, who searches the In Between to find the ghost of his wife. Lottie’s cousin, Clement, finds a hidden garden and shares it with Lottie. There, they both hope to reclaim their magic and live the brighter future that they had both taken for granted. The longer they spend in the garden, the more it begins to rebound from its sad state.

In an interview in MG Book Village, Savaryn talked about using the classic children’s novel The Secret Garden as the premise for The Edge of In Between. Savaryn shared: “I worked really hard to tell a story that could be appreciated by anyone, whether or not they’re familiar with the original story (or even if they don’t really like it!). Early on, I decided that I would have a counterpart to each of the characters in the original, but that I would take a fresh angle on their personalities and dynamics. I also decided to keep some of the major plot markers in place.” Savaryn appended: “I hoped to then build on that foundation to create a world brimming with magic, and that delves into navigating grief and finding one’s way to hope and healing again in a more nuanced and layered way. I also wanted to write a story completely free of the racism, ableism, and colonialism of the original book.”

A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked that “the novel is highly imaginative” and “inventive.” Booklist contributor Donna Scanlon noted that the novel’s protagonist “takes in her experiences and works through her grief thoughtfully and at her own pace, so it rings true and isn’t a ‘lesson.’”

[OPEN NEW]

In The Night Train, Maddie and her family are renovating a house for her parents’ home renovation show, but then Maddie’s grandma dies. Somehow, her grandma’s ability to see ghosts passes to Maddie and her twin sister, Nat. Nat enjoys the possibilities of communicating with ghosts and trying to help them, but Maddie finds it too creepy and does not want to admit it to anyone. When she finally starts to accept her “gift,” however, the twins realize they are involved in a much larger conspiracy connected to a historic train cash, and Maddie has to help one ghost in particular or else she might be next.

Writing in Booklist, Emily Graham was enthusiastic about this outing, praising Savaryn for how she “conjures a deliciously eerie atmosphere sure to delight” fans of ghost stories and mysteries. Graham described the tale as “supremely spooky.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews called the book “an accessible introduction to the genre” of paranormal mystery. They wrote that “the central mystery keeps the pages turning.”

[CLOSE NEW]

Savaryn once told SATA: “Before all else, I was a reader. As a kid, I inhaled books. I felt the power of a story to sweep me away to a whole new world before I thought seriously about writing them myself. I love the power of stories to heal, to transform, to build empathy and compassion and bravery and all the good things. While I tinkered with writing as a kid, there was this small, persistent whisper inside me that grew as time went on to not only read stories, but to try telling some myself. It took about ten years before I was brave enough to listen to that whisper and try, and I’m so glad I did.

“I’m influenced by so many things, and my children rank among the top. I’m always thinking about the kinds of lessons I want them to learn in the world, and I tuck a few of them in my books. I’m influenced by my own time as a child, and the sense of wonder I’m always searching for in adulthood. I’m influenced by the power of hope, and it’s beautiful presence throughout middle grade fiction. And I’m influenced by my Catholic faith, which is a big part of who I am and how I experience wonder and beauty in the world today.

“My process been pretty different for each book! I usually go through spurts where I write a lot, and quickly. Other times, it’s more spread out and I might go a few months without writing much at all. At the moment, I’m writing the first draft of what will be my third published novel, and I’m writing for about 2 hours every afternoon and mulling over the story between homeschooling the kids and all the mom stuff of daily living. Often, a story begins as a series of notes in a notebook, or jotted in a document or on my phone. I just play with ideas and try different things out until the bigger picture of a story starts to take form. I live for revision—for that moment when I know exactly what I need to do to get a story from where it started to where it could be. There’s a lot of struggle involved in getting there most of the time for me, which I think is partly why the payoff feels so rewarding.

“As a writer, I’ve learned that you need to be really patient, and that it’s best to learn early whose feedback you will take to heart. On the front end, there is a lot of waiting in publishing, even when you get an agent or sell some books. Learning to be patient with grace comes in handy. And on the back end, there are people I trust with my words … some writing friends, my agent, my editor. I can take praise and constructive criticism from them and use it to become a better writer and tell a better story, and it’s best to focus my emotional energy there.

“The Circus of Stolen Dreams will always be my first book, and it will have a very special place in my heart for it. The Edge of In Between, my magical Secret Garden retelling out in April 2022 is a book I had to work really hard on to make right, and I’m so, so proud of it now. The Night Train, out in 2023, has been really fun to explore and discover, and a bit different, because I understand the process a bit better now, and I’m not letting the same things intimidate me like they used to. For example, a first draft is when I tell myself the story. That’s all it has to do and all it has to be. And I’m able to let go of the fact that it’s rough and enjoy the process, which makes The Night Train uniquely special to me too.

“I hope kids, or readers of all ages, really, will read my books and come away knowing that life can be very hard sometimes, but that good can win the day, and that there is real life magic and power in hope. I have a quote from GK Chesterton right above my fireplace, which sums up the ‘why’ of why I write very nicely.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, August 1, 2020, Emily Graham, review of The Circus of Stolen Dreams, p. 69; March 15, 2022, Donna Seaman, review of The Edge of In Between, p. 69; June 1, 2024, Emily Graham, review of The Night Train, p. 93.

• Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2020, review of The Circus of Stolen Dreams; February 1, 2022, review of The Edge of In Between; June 1, 2024, review of The Night Train.

ONLINE

• Kate J. Foster website, http://www.katejfoster.com/ (September 2, 2020), Kate J. Foster, author interview.

• KidLit411, http://www.kidlit411.com/ (August 28, 2020), author interview.

• Lorelei Savaryn website, https://loreleisavaryn.com/ (April 7, 2025).

• Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency website, https://madeleinemilburn.co.uk/ (May 25, 2023), author profile.

• MG Book Village, https://mgbookvillage.org/ (May 9, 2022), author interview.

• Mindy McGinnis website, https://www.mindymcginnis.com/ (September 2, 2020), author interview.

• Pitch Wars, https://pitchwars.org/ (November 21, 2018), Brenda Drake, author interview.

• Travel and Write Today, https://travelandwritetoday.com/ (April 5, 2021), author interview.*