Tim Federle

Tim Federle is an American author, librettist, director, screenwriter, and former Broadway performer born on March 24, 1980, in Foster City, California, and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His career spans stage performance, novel writing, cocktail recipe books, film, and television.

Before transitioning to writing, Federle worked as an actor, dancer, and singer on Broadway between 2003 and 2008. His stage credits include the 2003 Bernadette Peters revival of Gypsy, The Little Mermaid, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas. He also served on the resident choreographic staff of Billy Elliot the Musical as dance captain.

Federle's writing career encompasses both fiction and non-fiction. His debut middle-grade novel, Better Nate Than Ever, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2013 and follows a thirteen-year-old from Pennsylvania who travels to New York City to audition for a Broadway production. The book earned recognition as an Amazon Best Book of 2013, a New York Times Notable Book of 2013, a Stonewall Book Award Honor Book, and a Lambda Literary Award finalist. The audiobook, narrated by Federle himself, received an Odyssey Award Honor. A film adaptation, written and directed by Federle, was announced by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in 2021 and debuted on Disney+ in spring 2022.

Two sequels followed. Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, published in 2014, was a Junior Library Guild selection, an Amazon Best Book of 2014, an American Booksellers Association Best Book for Children, and a 2015 Lambda Literary Award winner in the LGBT Children's and Young Adult category. Its audiobook also earned Federle an Odyssey Honor. The trilogy concluded with Nate Expectations in 2018, which follows the protagonist after he returns to his Pennsylvania hometown following his Broadway debut. Federle also contributed a story to the 2016 young adult anthology Summer Days and Summer Nights, published by St. Martin's Press and edited by Stephanie Perkins. His young adult novel The Great American Whatever, published by Simon and Schuster in 2016, was named a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2016 and appeared on Kirkus Reviews' Best Teen Books of 2016 list.

Federle co-wrote the book for the Broadway musical Tuck Everlasting, a stage adaptation that shares its title with the source material. The production is listed among his verified Broadway credits alongside his earlier performing work.

His cocktail recipe book Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist was published by Perseus Books in 2013 and won the Goodreads Best Cookbook of 2013 Award. It sold over 100,000 copies and was featured as a clue on Jeopardy! in October 2014. Two follow-up volumes appeared in subsequent years: Hickory Daiquiri Dock: Cocktails with a Nursery Rhyme Twist in 2014 and Gone with the Gin: Cocktails with a Hollywood Twist in 2015.

In film and television, Federle was a co-writer on Ferdinand, an animated feature that received nominations for both the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He also created Disney's High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.