Tonya Hurley

Tonya Hurley is the New York Times best-selling author of the highly acclaimed Ghostgirl book series; creator, writer and producer of animated and live action hit television series; writer and director of independent films; writer and director of commercials for Playstation, Gameboy and Warner Home Video; and creator of groundbreaking videogames. Hurley has written and directed several acclaimed independent films, which have been selected for film festivals around the world including the LA Independent, TriBeca and Edinburgh and have also been broadcast on ABC, PBS and IFC. Hurley was nominated for the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Award in Film and made the semi-finals of the Sundance Institute’s Writer’s Lab with her feature film script. She studied writing, music and filmmaking at The University of Pittsburgh, screenwriting at New York University, and stop motion animation at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her first book Ghostgirl was released in 2008 and instantly hit the New York Times bestseller list and is available in over 22 languages around the world. Hurley began her career in New York City as a personal publicist for such artists as John “Rotten” Lydon, Prince, George Michael, Morrissey, The Cure, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Larry McMurtry, RL Stine, The Three Tenors, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Paul Westerberg, Bush, and John Cale. Hurley was nominated for the Queen of Teen award in 2014.