About

Sylvia Vardell is Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University where she teaches graduate courses in literature for children and young adults. Her current work focuses on poetry for children, including the nationally recognized blog, PoetryforChildren and a regular feature on poetry for ALA’s Book Links magazine. She has served on several national award committees including the prestigious Caldecott Award committee, the ALA Odyssey Award for audiobooks, the ALA Sibert Award for informational literature, the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for nonfiction, and the NCTE Award for Poetry. She currently chairs the ALA Children’s Literature Legacy Award committee and serves on the Executive Committee of the International Board on Books for Young Children. She has also co-edited their international journal of children’s literature, Bookbird. Vardell has conducted over 150 presentations at state, regional, national, and international conferences, received grants from YALSA, NCTE, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and taught at the University of Zimbabwe as a Fulbright scholar. She lives in Texas, loves to travel, and is a fan of all things Star Wars.