Celebrated YA author Ellen Conford died March 20 on her 73rd birthday, following a long illness. Conford wrote more than 30 books, including the “Annabel the Actress” (S. & S.) and “Jenny Archer” (Little, Brown) series. Her novels effectively conveyed the uncertainty and turmoil of the adolescent experience. And This Is Laura (1977) centers on a girl who feels frustrated that the rest of her family outshines her but who discovers that she has supernatural powers, while To All My Fans, with Love, from Sylvie (1982, both Little, Brown) follows a 1950s teenager attempting to flee her life in foster care for glamorous Hollywood. Though her books were out of print for many years, they still resonate with fans, many of whom still treasure the impact that Conford had on them as readers. Publisher Lizzie Skurnick has begun republishing Conford’s work through her eponymous imprint at Ig Publishing, which is committed to reiussing classic YA literature by authors such as M.E. Kerr, Lois Duncan, and Norma Klein. “Ellen was a fundamental, essential part of 80s YA, which was both humorous but very reality based,” Skurnick told SLJ. When she announced the author’s death on Twitter, “people immediately started posting their memories and favorite lines from her books.” “She’s just a fundamental, essential part of how many of us women learned about the world and about ourselves,” Skurnick added. “She really understood that teenagers have their own, rich complicated world.” Conford reached young people beyond print. Several of her novels were adapted for TV afterschool specials, such as The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations (1976) and Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate (1975, Little, Brown), many by Conford herself. The author was born in 1942 in New York City. Her appreciation for the written word was apparent early on: she was an avid reader and later edited her high school’s humor magazine. After attending Hofstra University, she launched her career writing short stories for teen magazines. Her decision to start writing full-length books originated out of her frustration at her inability to find a good book at the library for her son. She told her husband that she thought she could write a better one. The result was her debut work, Impossible Possum (Little, Brown, 1971), a picture book about a possum who doesn’t fit in with the rest of his family because he can’t hang by his tail, illustrated by Rosemary Wells. Little, Brown editor John Keller recalls coming across the manuscript for Impossible Possum at the beginning of his editorial career: “Its fresh and funny tone was just right…. To make matters even better, when I contacted the author, she turned out to be just as fresh and funny as her characters. It was a triumph for all of us and the start of a wonderful editor-author relationship.” Conford went on to publish more than 30 novels, garnering both popular and critical success. The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School of Rules and Regulations was selected by the American Library Association as a Notable Young Adult Book in 1976, while Lenny Kandell, Smart Aleck (Little, Brown) was named an SLJ Best Book in 1983. Those who knew Conford praised her not only for her talent but for her warm, winning personality. Keller described going out to lunch with the author in New York City. “As we were picking up our coats to leave, Barbara Walters was escorted past us. Ellen turned to me and, laughed, and said, ‘Gee, I’m among celebrities, I guess I really have arrived.’ ‘Honey,’ I replied, ‘in our small world, you arrived right from the start. And I bet you’re going to keep on going—just like Ms. Walters over there.’ And she did.”