Carla Killough McClafferty

Carla Killough McClafferty is an award-winning author of nonfiction books and a public speaker. Her path to becoming an author is unique as her first career is as a Registered Radiologic Technologist. She began writing after the death of her young son, Corey, when she wrote her first book Forgiving God: A Woman’s Struggle to Understand When God Answers No. Next, McClafferty turned her attention to writing nonfiction books for young readers McClafferty has written books on a wide variety of topics including George Washington, Marie Curie, X-rays, an American holocaust rescuer, concussions in football, enslaved people, and spies in the American Revolution. Her books have been recognized for excellence in various ways including starred reviews, Bank Street Best Books of the Year, IRA Children’s Book Award Winner, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book, ALA Best Books for Young Adult List, ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List, National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book, National Council of Social Studies Outstanding Trade Book, Colonial Dames Literary Prize, Doubleday’s Crossings Book Club, and more. McClafferty is a popular public speaker and has been featured at national and international venues including Mount Vernon’s Ford Book Series, CSpan 2 Book TV, Colonial Williamsburg, the American Library Association national conference, the National Science Teachers Association national conference, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the U.S. Consulate in Marseille, France. She presents both live and virtual sessions for teacher professional development workshops, and provides author visits and interactive videoconferences with students all over the nation Her books include: Spies in the American Revolution Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon A Short Biography of George Washington Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football’s Make-or-Break Moment Tech Titans The Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential Icon In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful X-ray Forgiving God: A Woman’s Struggle to Understand When God Answers No The Life of David: Comfort from the Psalms