About Liza Wiemer

Award-winning Author, Educator, and Public Speaker 

(Pronounced Leeza Weemer)

 

Short Bio:

Liza Wiemer is an award-winning educator with over twenty years of teaching experience. Her second novel, The Assignment, was published by Delacorte Press and has received 12 honors, including being named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book. To date, The Assignment has also been translated to Russian, Polish, Italian, and Korean and has been optioned for film. In addition, Liza has had two adult nonfiction books published and several short stories included in the New York Times bestselling Small Miracles series. Since August 2020, she has presented over 600 talks and workshops across the globe. She’s been interviewed by media outlets like NPR, BBC, ABC, and gave a TedXTalk at the UW-Madison. Her debut picture book, Out and About: A Tale of Giving, was published by Kalaniot Books in August 2023. A graduate of UW-Madison, Liza has two married sons and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband, Jim.

Longer Bio:

Liza Wiemer is an award-winning educator with over twenty years of teaching experience. Her second novel, The Assignment, was published by Delacorte Press and has received 12 honors, including being named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book. To date, The Assignment has also been translated to Russian, Polish, Italian, and Korean and has been optioned for film. In addition, Liza has had two adult nonfiction books published and several short stories included in the New York Times bestselling Small Miracles series. Since August 2020, she has presented over 600 talks and workshops across the globe. She’s been interviewed by media outlets like NPR, BBC, ABC, and gave a TedXTalk at the UW-Madison. Her debut picture book, Out and About: A Tale of Giving, was published by Kalaniot Books in August 2023.  Every month, she writes a kidlit column for the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. She serves on the board of the Holocaust Education Resource Center in Milwaukee. Liza received the honor of being named one of “The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2021” by the Algemeiner. A graduate of UW-Madison, Liza has two married sons and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband, Jim.

  • The Assignment, a young adult/crossover novel published by Delacorte Press. Cover designer, Angela Carlino. Available in hardcover, paperback, audiobook, e-book. Signed copies at Boswell Books | B&N | Audible and Amazon Note about Ableist Language: When I learned abut ableist language shortly before The Assignment was to go to print, I made the decision to remove it from the novel. Please see my article, “Ableist Language: A Lesson for All,” for more information.
  • Experienced public speaker and workshop leader.
  • Since August 2020, Liza has conducted over 300 interviews and workshops and has spoken for  KERA’s Think (NPR-Dallas), WTMJ’s The Morning Blend, SCBWI, School Library Journal, Write On Door County, NaNoWrimo, 92nd Street Y, Tucson Festival of Books, Miami Book Fair International, Hadassah, NCJW,  ADL, National Network for Educational Renewal, Northern Illinois University, Michigan State University, JCCs, Federations, synagogues, Holocaust centers across the country, and at schools such as Sturgeon Bay High School, Arrowhead High School, Washington Island School District, and numerous other schools across the country. Please see my “Events” page.
    2022 Scholar for the David Lapkovski Project
  • Available to speak for book clubs, schools, organizations, TV, radio.
  • Hello?, my debut YA novel was published November 10, 2015 by Spencer Hill Contemporary. IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
  • Contributor of 3 short stories to the NYTBS Series Small Miracles: Small Miracles from Beyond: Dreams, Visions and Signs that Link Us to the Other Side published by Sterling Ethos, October 21, 2014
  • Contributor to the NYTBS Series Small Miracles: Small Miracles of the Holocaust, Extraordinary Coincidences of Faith, Hope, and Survival, By Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal, 2008, Lyons Press. Amazon: http://tiny.cc/rzSfK
  • Waiting for Peace, 2005, Gefen, Amazon: http://tiny.cc/8IZA8
  • Extraordinary Guidance, 1997, Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Amazon: http://tiny.cc/Byd98
  • Award-winning educator with over 20 years experience K-2 through high school.
  • Graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison – Elementary Education (Go Badgers!)

Liza married the guy who literally swept her off her feet at a Spyro Gyra concert. Besides being a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan, she is a readaholic, a romantic, and a lover of nature, crazy socks, and rooftops.

Unique “job” experiences: Liza spent a summer selling popcorn in a Koepsell’s popcorn wagon while listening to awesome music on the Summerfest grounds in Milwaukee. She also knows her way around a fender and a quarter panel and under the hood of a car. She spent a few years driving to accident scenes, scrapyards, hospitals, auto repair shops as a claims adjuster for an insurance company.