Greg van Eekhout was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, in neighborhoods with hippies, criminals, working people, and movie studios. His parents were Dutch-Indonesian.
Like many writers (and many people who aren’t writers, for that matter), Greg has done a number of things to put food on the table and keep a roof over his head. He has worked as an ice cream scooper (or dipper, as people who sell ice cream are sometimes called), a political fundraiser (or telemarketer), a comic book store clerk, a bookseller, a bookstore assistant manager, an educational multimedia developer, and a college teacher (of English and of multimedia development). Among other things. His latest book, Happy Town, came out in October of 2024.
Greg has lived his entire life in the Western half of the United States. He prefers beaches to deserts. He currently lives in San Diego.
My name last name is pronounced like this: Van, as in the kind of thing you drive, eek, as in, “Eek, killer robots are stomping the rutabagas!” and hout, like “out” with an h in front of it. The emphasis is on the Eek. Say it with me: van EEKhout.
Impeccably toned middle school humor, paired with action-packed hijinks and a poignant extended metaphor about finding one’s identity, results in a heartfelt, pitch-perfect middle grade novel.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
