Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer, editor, children’s author, and poet.

Yolen’s stories use rhythm and rhyme in conjunction with elements of folklore and fantasy. In an article for the Huffington Post, she stated, “I write to satisfy the story or poem or piece of fascinating research that speaks to me. To rub a sore, to resonate with joy, to answer a question no one else has satisfactorily answered for me.”

Yolen is the author of more than 300 books, and her work has been translated into almost two dozen languages. Recently, she has published "Finding Baba Yaga," "How to Fracture a Fairy Tale," "A Kite for Moon," "Briar Rose: A Novel of the Holocaust" and "Quiet as Mud."

Her poetry collection "Radiation Sonnets: Love, in Sickness and in Health" deals with her late husband’s battle with cancer. Her numerous books for young readers include the picture books "Owl Moon," "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?," and the novella "The Devil’s Arithmetic." Her nonfiction includes "Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft" and "Touch Magic: Fantasy, Faerie & Folklore in the Literature of Childhood."

Yolen has received the Daedelus Award and the Catholic Library Association’s Regina Medal, and her books have won two Caldecott Medals, two Nebula Awards from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, two Christopher Medals, and the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She has six honorary doctorates from various institutions of higher learning.

The former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Yolen has served on the board of directors for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for more than 25 years.