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.pdf download -Faculty Bios 2012
April Lurie was born and raised in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, a neighborhood populated by the Mafia. This inspired her to write BROTHERS, BOYFRIENDS & OTHER CRIMINAL MINDS (Delacorte 2007), a New York Public Library Book for the Teenage, a KLIATT Editor’s Choice, and a selection for the 2008 Texas Lone Star List. She is also the author of THE LATENT POWERS OF DYLAN FONTAINE (Delacorte 2008), a BBYA Nominee, and DANCING IN THE STREETS OF BROOKLYN Delacorte 2002), a Teddy Award Finalist. Her most recent novel, THE LESS-DEAD (Delacorte 2010), is a selection for the ALA Rainbow List. Kirkus Reviews calls it “A compelling, edge of your seat thriller.” She lives near Austin, TX with her husband and their four children. Visit her at www.aprillurie.com.
Brian Yansky has a BA from the University of Texas and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College. He’s an Assistant Professor at Austin Community College where he teaches writing. He writes both young adult and adult fiction. Hs adult stories have appeared in the Cresent Review, Nebraska review, Chiron Review and other literary journals. He is the author of Alien Invasions and Other Inconveniences, Wonders of the World, and My Road Trip to the Pretty Girl Capital of the World. Visit him at www.brianyansky.com.
Bethany Hegedus’s second novel Truth with a Capital T (Delacorte) debuted at the 2010 Texas Book Festival and was named a Bank Street Best Books of 2010. Forthcoming, with Atheneum/Simon & Schuster is the picture book Grandfather Gandhi, co-authored with Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma. Bethany’s first novel Between Us Baxters (WestSide Books) was named a Bank Street Books, Best Books of 2009 (starred) and a Top 40 Fiction Books for Young Adults by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. Bethany serves as Editor of the Young Adult & Children’s section of the literary journal Hunger Mountain and teaches privately. A longtime resident of NYC, she now writes and teaches from her home in Austin.
Ever since he co-authored a Howard Cosell parody in third grade, Chris Bartonhas been drawn toward writing as a community activity, and there’s no better place in the world for that than Austin. In the decade or so since he was a fledgling in the local children’s literature scene, Chris has written picture books THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS (an ALA Sibert Honor book about the guys who invented those colors) and SHARK VS. TRAIN (a New York Times bestseller about, um, a shark versus a train) and the young adult nonfiction thriller CAN I SEE YOUR I.D.? TRUE STORIES OF FALSE IDENTITIES. He’s also considered himself lucky pretty much every single day to get to do what he loves alongside Austin’s terrific authors, illustrators, librarians, and booksellers — and to count those same folks among his friends.
Cynthia Leitich Smith is a New York Times best-selling and award-winning writes fiction for everyone, but she has a particular affection for young readers, from kids to twenty-somethings.
Greg Leitich Smith lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and four cats. In addition to Chronal Engine, Greg is also the author of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo and its companion book, Tofu and T. Rex. He and Cynthia are co-authors of the picture book, Santa Knows, illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. A patent lawyer by day, Greg holds with academic honors: A bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas; and a juris doctor from The University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor.
Jeanette Larson is a freelance consultant, trainer, and writer. After more than twenty-five years of working in libraries she ‘took her pension’ and now channels her love of libraries, books, and reading for the Texas Women’s University, writing, consulting, and conducting on-line and in-person workshops. Among many publications, Jeanette has written El Dia de Los Ninos/El Dia de Los Libros and Hummingbirds: Fact and Folklore in America. She is also a member of the Texas Sweethearts and Scoundrels.
Jennifer Zeigler is the author of Sass & Sensibility, How NOT to be Popular, and Alpha Dog. She is a writer, speaker, mother, movie buff and lover of all things wacky and real. Visit Jennifer at www.jenniferzeigler.net.
Jessica Lee Anderson is the author of CALLI, as well as TRUDY, and BORDER CROSSING. She’s published two nonfiction readers, as well as fiction and nonfiction for a variety of magazines including Highlights for Children. Jessica graduated from Hollins University with a Master of Arts in Children’s Literature, and instructed at the Institute of Children’s Literature for five years. She is a member of The Texas Sweethearts & Scoundrels and hopes to be more sweetheart than scoundrel. She lives in Pflugerville, Texas with her husband and two crazy dogs.
Liz Garton Scanlon is a mother, children’s author and teacher. She’s written A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes, Noodle and Lou, and the Caldecott Honor winning, All the World. She says that she writes for children because it gives her a sense of hope and makes her happy. She says that writing for children brings out the best in her.
Margo Rabb is the author of the novel Cures for Heartbreak, which received four starred reviews, won the Teddy Book Award, and was named one of the best YA books of the year by Kirkus and Booklist. Her fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, Seventeen, One Story, Best New American Voices, and elsewhere, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio. She received grand prize in the Zoetrope fiction contest, first prize in The Atlantic Monthly fiction contest, first prize in the American Fiction contest, and a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. Her new YA novel will be published by Delacorte in Fall 2012. Visit her online at www.margorabb.com.
In high school, Mari Mancusi wished she could become a vampire. But she ended up in another blood-sucking profession – journalism. Today she works as a free lance TV produces and author of books written for teens and adults. When not writing about creatures of the night, Mari enjoys traveling, cooking, goth clubbing, watching cheesy horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure – video games. A graduate of Boston University and two-time Emmy Award winner, Mari lives in Austin, Texas with Husband Jacob, daughter Avalon, and Mesquite, their dog.
Nikki Loftin is a writer and native Texan who lives just outside Austin, Texas, surrounded by dogs, chickens, and small, loud boys. Her debut middle-grade novel, THE SINISTER SWEETNESS OF SPLENDID ACADEMY, pitched as Hansel and Gretel meets Coraline, will be published by Razorbill (Penguin) in Summer 2012. Her second novel will release in Summer 2013. Nikki studied literary fiction at the University of Texas at Austin graduate writing program (MA, ‘98), but it wasn’t until she became a teacher that she found her true calling: working with and writing for kids. In addition to middle-grade novels, Nikki also writes essays, puppet plays, articles, poems, and short stories. Her short children’s fiction has appeared in Boy’s Life and Pockets. www.nikkiloftin.com
Varian Johnson is the author of three novels, including My Life as a Rhombus, which was named to the Texas Library Association Tayshas High School Reading List, the New York Public Library “Stuff for the Teen Age” list, and was a finalist for a Texas Institute of Letters award. He holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has taught and presented at St. Edwards University and Texas State University. His latest novel, Saving Maddie, was recently named a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of 2011.
