For Immediate Release
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Photo copyright © by Jason Stemple |
Jane Yolen, one of the most influential women in the field of science fiction and fantasy literature, has been recognized by the SF-FFWs organization with the 2006 Roots in Writing Award.
Yolen has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the 20th Century. She has penned more than 275 children's books and science fiction and fantasy novels. Yolen is also a noted poet, has taught writing and literature, and has served as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Yolen was born in 1939 in New York City, and is a graduate of Smith College and the University of Massachusetts. Among her works: Briar Rose, The One-Armed Queen, Sister Light Sister Dark, White Jenna, Pay the Piper, Owl Moon, Dragon's Blood, Sword of the Rightful King, and The Devil's Arithmetic. The University of Massachusetts recently conferred a Doctors of Human Letters degree on Yolen, her fifth honorary doctorate.
Not just a versatile writer, Ms.Yolen has also been an editor — in the 1960s for Knopf where she was the assistant editor on such books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, as well as John Updike's only children's book, A Child's Calendar. In the late 1980s, for ten years, she had her own YA fantasy and science fiction imprint for Harcourt Brace, and published Anne McCaffrey, Bruce Coville, Patricia C. Wrede, Will Shetterly, and Sherwood Smith, among others. At the same time she started Harcourt's ongoing paperback YA fantasy reprint line, Magic Carpet Books.
She divides her time between her homes in Massachusetts and in Scotland. Later this month she will appear as a Guest of Honor at Wiscon in Madison, Wisconsin.
SF-FFWs [Science Fiction and Fantasy Female Writers] is an association of professional women writers of science fiction and fantasy, as well as authors from other genres who are interested in science fiction and fantasy. The organization has approximately 150 members worldwide. The Roots in Writing Award honors women who have made major accomplishments in the science fiction and fantasy fields as writers, editors, and publishers. SF-FFWs members select the recipients from nominations of women writers and editors who they respect and who influenced their own careers.
Recipients are honored with bouquets of roses or trees, something beautiful that springs from strong roots, and are presented with permanent awards. The organization intends to continue to spotlight women whose contributions have paved the way in the field.
Previous winners of the Roots in Writing Award are: Betty Ballantine, Madeleine L'Engle, Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. Le Guin, Kate Wilhelm, Joanna Russ, and the late Andre Norton.
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