“Sean always lifts the mood.”

~ Naomi Shihab Nye, U.S. Young People’s Poet Laureate


Sean Petrie is an award-winning poet and author. As a founder of Typewriter Rodeo he’s written more than 20,000 poems for people all across the country.


“Thank you Sean for the beautiful poem. You have a tremendous gift.”

~ Dr. Shanetia Clark, IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People)


His kids books include Pet Poems (Burlwood; IPPY Award) and its Pet Poems Plus companion workbook (Burlwood; Moonbeam Children’s Award), the Jett Ryder 4-book series (JollyFish), and numerous educational books for Fountas & Pinnell.

His adult books include Cracked & Broken (Burlwood), Listen to the Trees (Documentary Media; IPPY Award), and Typewriter Rodeo (Andrews McMeel).

Sean has an MFA in Writing for Kids from Vermont College, a law degree from Stanford, and a Plan II degree from the University of Texas (where he co-founded the Camp Texas program). He teaches creative writing workshops and is a legal writing professor at the University of Texas Law School.

You can hear Sean’s weekly radio poems on Austin NPR, and his work has appeared in The Texas ObserverDallas Morning News and other outlets. He owns a metric ton of typewriters.

   

FUN FACTS!

Hometown?  I was born in Columbus, OH, and split my childhood between there and Flower Mound, TX.

First Job?  Dressing up as a Care Bear for the Columbus Zoo. (I was the pink one.)

First Halloween Costume?  When I was 3 or 4, my mom asked what I wanted to be for Halloween. I’m still not sure why I replied: “A green mushroom!” (The hat? She made it from a toilet seat cover.)

First Poem?  Somewhere around 1st grade, I started making up poems. Two early ones were about Thanksgiving & Christmas.

First Story?  In 2nd grade, I told my classmates that I’d had my poem about Thanksgiving published in Highlights magazine. Like all stories, it had some truth (the poem was real), and some not so much (the Highlights part wasn’t).

Favorite Book?  The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin

Favorite Movie?  Dead Poets Society

Favorite TV Show?  Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy forever!)

First (& Only) Job Dressing Up As a Lottery Number?  I was the number three in the Texas Lotto’s “Pick 3” ad campaign.

Number of typewriters owned?  At least 40…

Dream Job?  Owning a typewriter shop!

Number of tattoos?  Only one (for now) – it’s a tattoo of the main typewriter I use for poem-writing.

Interviews

Austin SCBWI (2022)

CanvasRebel magazine (2022)

The Perks of Being a Book Lover podcast (2022)

KUT Austin “Texas Standard” show (2022)

Author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s “Cynsations” blog (2022)

Voyage Austin magazine (2022)

Vermont College “Wild Things” (2021)

All Ways West Seattle podcast (2021)

Texas Country Reporter TV show (2019)

We Are Austin TV show (2019)

WestSide Seattle magazine (2019)

Author Mindy McGinnis’s podcast (2019)

Author Uma Krishnaswami’s blog (2018)