Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve is a novelist, screenwriter, film producer and teacher. Her most recent work is Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge, the 2020 Children’s History Book Prize winner, which was co-written with Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Never Caught was also named to Reader’s Digest’s List of the 106 Best Children’s Books of All Time. Her most recent screenplay, Femesis, was co-written with Aline Brosh McKenna, the writer of The Devil Wears Prada and My Crazy Ex-Boyfriend and is slated to begin production in 2025. Her middle grade novel Drizzle won the Keystone State Reading Award and received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books and School Library Journal. Her debut novel, Cranberry Queen, was published in over twelve countries and was optioned by Miramax Films. For over a decade, she worked with actor/producer/playwright John Leguizamo and with him produced several movies, including the Sundance Film Festival screenwriting winner, Joe the King, and the award-winning film, Pinero. DeMarco Van Cleve graduated from Penn with a dual degree from the College of Arts & Sciences (Creative Writing) and Wharton.