Ella McLeod author page

Ella McLeod biography

Ella McLeod is a writer, performer, poet and podcaster. She graduated from the University of Warwick with a first-class BA in English Literature with Theatre and Performance Studies, and she has worked as a spoken word poet and actress, including in Bible John.

Her young adult debut, Rapunzella, Or, Don’t Touch My Hair, was published by Scholastic on 7 July 2022. The book combines poetry and prose in a reworking of the Rapunzel story that explores Black hair, Black identity, race, gender and coming of age.

Her second YA novel, The Map That Led to You, was published by Scholastic on 11 April 2024. The book blends high-seas adventure, lyrical poetry, LGBTQ+ contemporary romance, pirate history and Caribbean mermaid mythology, and it follows Reggie and Maeve as they question the accepted history of a corrupt pirate republic.

McLeod also wrote the picture book Goldilocs, illustrated by Rochelle Falconer. In that retelling, Goldilocs has afro hair in locs, challenges narrow ideas about what girls should be, and learns that being herself matters most.

Writing as E.S. McLeod, she moved into adult fiction with Andromeda, a Greek mythology retelling published by Transworld Digital on 14 May 2026.