Growing up in a rural farm area south of Chicago as an only child, Heidi Bee Roemer’s choices for entertainment were picking ticks off her dog, pulling weeds from the garden and helping her dad cut and stack firewood. It didn’t help that she lived with four adults (parents and grandparents) so she never got away with anything! Since her T.V. viewing was limited to one hour per day, clearly, the only escape was to become a bookworm. Her favorite pastime was reading Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and any story about horses. To earn money to buy books, Heidi’s parents paid her one penny per weed pulled and zero cents per mosquito killed.

Years later, Heidi married Ric who rescued her from a life of mosquitoes, ticks, and weeds. Together they opened a decorating shop and started a family. Heidi fell in love with children’s books for a second time when she began reading to her two little boys. In 1992, Heidi joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, plugged in her shiny new word processor and began writing for children in earnest.

In 1995, Heidi made her first modest sale to a children’s Sunday school paper. Today she is the author of several children’s books and has sold over 400 children’s poems, poems, stories and articles to various children’s magazines and anthologies.

In addition to offering workshops and classes to writers, Heidi is a former instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature, a college credited correspondence course for adults who write for children. She has also served as Assistant Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) in Illinois. and for many years was a writer-in-residence for Chicago Public Schools through the authorship-based program for the Magnet Cluster Schools. She has participated in many Young Authors programs and has been a guest author at The Midwest Literary Festival, the Illinois Reading Council, and other related venues.

You can learn more about “Heidi Bee” by click on interviews.