Jasmine Warga

Jasmine Warga (born April 24, 1988) is an American children's and young adult book author. Her free verse book Other Words for Home received a Newbery Honor in 2020. Her novel A Rover's Story was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and won the Senior Young Reader's Choice Award in 2025.

Early life and education Warga was born in Cincinnati to an American mother and immigrant Jordanian father. Her 2019 children's book about a Syrian refugee living in Ohio, Other Words for Home, won a Newbery Honor as well as other awards. She was inspired to write the book after visiting a Syrian family friend in 2013 and watching the interactions between his cousins born in America and cousins who had come to America from Syria.

Personal life Warga lives in Naperville, Illinois with her family. She teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in addition to her writing career.

Works My Heart and Other Black Holes (2015) Here We Are Now (2017) Other Words for Home (2019) The Shape of Thunder (2021) A Rover's Story (2022) A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall (2024) The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan (2026)