The 2003 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship recipient, Franny Billingsley, has been named a 2011 National Book Awards Finalist for Young Peoples' Literature for her novel, Chime.

Franny Billingsley won the 2003 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. In addition to Chime, she is the author of Big Bad Bunny, The Folk Keeper, and Well Wished. A graduate of Tufts University and the Boston University School of Law, she worked as a lawyer for five years before quitting her job and moving to Barcelona on a whim. Billingsley eventually returned to Chicago and worked as a children's book buyer for 13 years at the independent bookstore, 57th Street Books, while writing on the side. Her first book, Well Wished, was named to Booklist's  "Top Ten Fantasy Books for Youth" and "Top Ten First Novels for Youth." Her second book, The Folk Keeper, won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Fiction. Visit her blog at: frannybillingsley.com and learn more about Chime on the National Book Award website: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011_ypl_billingsley.html.