Alan Gratz grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is a strong sense of community storytelling traditions in this part of the country. Growing up in the South, Gratz was immersed in struggle, perseverance, and cultural diversity narratives. As a result of this, he was able to shape his style of writing and storytelling. In his novel Refugee you can see the main characters face extreme adversity. Also, in the novels Ground Zero and Prisoner B-3087 you can see the main characters faced with the need to survive. This shows how Gratz's values and traditions come through in his writing. Gratz was raised in the South, which made him love storytelling, which is an Appalachian tradition. His Tennessee roots have a major influence on his writing and storytelling. The southern region’s focus on empathy, resilience, and moral clarity was a really big reason Alan Gratz writes the way he does. All of these values and traditions are put into Gratz’s characters. Since he has been exposed to all these different values and traditions he was given a strong base for his works. Gratz’s childhood continues to be brought up through his works making the stories that much better. 

Gratz was born in 1972. He grew up in the late 20th century and continued to write into the 21st century, in which he was able to experience the Cold War's final years, the rise of globalization, and the aftermath of September 11th. Gratz witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, and later the September 11 attacks. Living through these global conflicts most likely shaped his interest in writing about wars. Social issues such as racial inequality, refugee crises, and the fight for civil rights have also been present throughout his lifetime. His perspective as a writer has been informed by these ongoing struggles. And since he is alive currently, his writings contain more simple language and not the old hard to understand English. His writing is more easily understandable for a younger audience because he is a modern author, but he can still explore in depth historical topics. Being a modern author he has access to the media, so it has played a much bigger role in his research when writing. His presence in the media over all helped develop his writing style and also helped bring his values into his writing. 

Although there are limited details about Alan's relationship with his parents during his childhood, from his writing style and themes, we can draw a conclusion that there was a good and strong relationship between him and his parents during his childhood. His love of reading and writing became present very early in his life suggesting that he was encouraged by his family at a young age. While his novels often explore trauma and adversity, these themes appear to be driven by historical interest and a desire to educate young readers rather than personal and psychological struggles. The present focus on empathy in his books represents a good childhood in his family. His family seems to be very supportive of his writing. There are no present psychological challenges. Gratz’s constant involvement with the youth lets us conclude that he had a very good childhood. It makes sense that he had a great childhood because he shows so much emotion and compassion throughout his stories. His great connection with his parents as a child could also be shown by how he can write about difficult situations with so much emotion. By writing this way he is able to connect with a much broader audience. 

As a graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Alan Gratz has earned a Bachelor's degree in creative writing as well as a Master's degree in English education from the University of Tennessee. While attending university he worked for the school’s newspaper, the Daily Beacon, helping him to develop his writing skills. Before his job as a full-time author he held a lot of jobs. First, he was a middle school teacher, he was a bookseller, he wrote plays, he wrote magazine articles, he wrote radio commercials, and TV series episodes. These jobs reflect his broad interest in storytelling and communication. Through his travels across the country, Gratz was able to attend many author tours and book promotions. There is no evidence of traveling outside the United States, but we can conclude that he is well traveled within the United States. He is married to Wendi Gratz and has a daughter named Jo. They live in Portland, Oregon. By having all these jobs and professions, it gave him a strong foundation to write off of for his audience. They also helped him find his voice in writing even more. Overall, professions and family played a big role in who is as a writer and a person today.