A native of east Tennessee, Natalie Lloyd knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer and often sets her middle grade literature in her home state. In 2014, she published her first novel, A Snicker of Magic, which won multiple awards and is currently being developed into a television series. Lloyd followed up with The Key to Extraordinary in 2016 and several more middle grade narratives, including the series The Problim Children and Over the Moon. After garnering many awards, in 2020, Lloyd dabbled in the world of audiobooks and crafted Silverswift. Most recently, she published Hummingbird, a novel that draws on her own experiences with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease.

Lloyd also continues a legacy of writers within the genre of magical realism, a blend of supernatural elements and real life that often casts the ordinary world in an extraordinary light. The genre’s roots are in Latin American literature, with Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude being one of the most recognizable works. Also notable are Toni Morrison’s