American · b. 1970
Andrew Smith is an American author of young adult fiction. He was born in 1970 and grew up in Southern California, and he later lived in Los Angeles County and Southern California. He studied political science and journalism and worked in various jobs before turning to fiction. His first novels appeared in the mid-2000s. He is best known for Grasshopper Jungle (2014), a science-fiction novel about teenagers in small-town Iowa, which won a Michael L. Printz Honor. He also wrote Winger (2013) and its sequel Stand-Off, The Marbury Lens, and Ghost Medicine. His books often feature teenage boys, dark humor, and frank treatment of sexuality, grief, and friendship. Several have been challenged or banned in schools, which has drawn attention to his work. He writes in a direct, voice-driven style, and his narrators are usually funny and anxious in equal measure.