Helen Hemphill

Helen Hemphill (born 1955) is an American children's and young adult novelist. Her three novels, published from 2006 to 2008, are all set in the southern USA, but feature diverse characters: a preacher's son, a tomboy 11-year-old girl and a 19th-century cowboy.

Biography Hemphill earned her MA in English Literature from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and worked for 20 years in advertising and public relations prior to her second career in teaching.

Hemphill has written three novels, all published by Front Street, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press. Her first book was Long Gone Daddy, published in 2006. Kirkus Reviews comments that the "wryly funny" work "relies a bit too much on hillbilly diction and unusual events", but concludes that Hemphill "is still a writer with promise". A review in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy said the book "deals with some tough issues, but does so in a way that will connect with students 13 and up". In 2007 it was featured in Books for the Teen Age published by the New York Public Library.

Her next book, Runaround, was published in 2007. About a tomboy 11-year-old girl seeking romance in 1960s Kentucky, the novel led Kirkus Reviews to describe Hemphill as "a strong new voice in children's literature". Publishers Weekly calls it an "often humorous coming-of-age novel" and praises the characterisation of the main character.

Her third book, The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, was published in 2008. The main character is a young 19th-century cowboy loosely based on Love.