Helen Phillips grew up in the foothills of Colorado in the United States, along with her three siblings. When she was eleven years old, she lost her hair due to the autoimmune condition alopecia, which was pretty hard at the time, but now she thinks there are some major advantages to not having hair (no shampoo in the eyes). Soon after she lost her hair, she (like Mad in Upside Down in the Jungle) made the New Year’s Resolution to write a poem a day, a tradition she continued for over eight years.
Helen attended Yale University, and then went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Brooklyn College. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, artist Adam Douglas Thompson, and their child.
She is the author of a book for adults, And Yet They Were Happy. Upside Down in the Jungle is her first book for young readers.
Author's Website: https://www.helencphillips.com/
