About

Lillie Gardner is an award-winning writer and director from Minnesota who tells stories about girls and women defying expectations. She’s especially passionate about creating animated preschool series that empower kids to love their own voices so they can grow up with the confidence to use them. Most recently, she’s written four episodes for Wondery’s kids podcast Whose Amazing Life?

Lillie is a 2025 Fellow in the Fred Rogers Productions Writers’ Neighborhood Program, a 2025 Fellow in the Hollywood Radio & Television Society Foundation Fellowship Program, and a series development mentee in Children’s Media Association’s 2025 Mentorship Program. She is also developing her first drama feature with the support of the 2025 Story Incubator Writing Lab.

As a screenwriter of both drama TV and animated kids scripts, Lillie has been Winner at Austin Film Festival of the Rooster Teeth Women & Animation Fellowship Award, Winner of Outstanding Drama Pitch at Catalyst Story Institute, and featured as a "Screenwriter to Watch" in MovieMaker Magazine. She’s also been a Top 3 Finalist in the Big Break Screenwriting Competition and a Finalist in ScreenCraft, Shore Scripts, BOLT, Roadmap, and other competitions. Lillie has received grants and scholarships for her screenwriting projects from Sundance Collab, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Next Step Fund, and Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy.

Lillie is the creator and director of the Twin Cities-based comedy web series Vegan Please and the co-writer/co-director, with Megen Musegades, of phone-addiction horror short film You’ve Been Selected (in post-production). Her kids series project Allegra Sparkle’s Guide to the Great Composers aims to teach a fun and inclusive history of classical music to the next generation—and normalize female genius along the way.  

Also a devoted writer of literary fiction and creative nonfiction, Lillie has been published in Quail Bell Magazine, Delmarva Review, Long River Review, and more. She serves on the essays reading panel for Hippocampus Magazine.

Lillie has taught writing classes at The Loft Literary Center, the Sinclair Lewis Writers’ Conference, Minnesota Women in Film & Television, HippoCamp Conference for Creative Nonfiction, and more.

Fun Fact: Lillie has an extensive background as a classical pianist. She studied music and creative writing at New York University before earning her master’s degree in solo piano performance from NYU, followed by her doctorate of musical arts from the University of Connecticut. She hasn’t performed properly in over five years, but you can hear some of her playing over at her YouTube page.