Award-Winning Author Jen Bryant to Visit

On Tuesday, April 12, Villa Maria Academy Lower School will have the pleasure of hosting award-winning local author Jen Bryant. Ms. Bryant will speak to students in grades 1-5 and will direct a writing workshop for 5^th grade students.

She will talk to the girls about her writing process including the research she completes for both her non-fiction and historical fiction pieces.  Her novels are told in verse rather than prose giving her work texture and creativity.  She will share this writing style with the students in her presentation and through the writing workshops she will direct with 5^th grade students.  A resident of Chester County where Villa is located, Ms. Bryant will talk about places and events likely familiar to the students adding a personal touch to the experience.

Books that she has written will be on display and available for order at Villa beginning the first week in March.  Ms. Bryant will personalize these books for the students during her visit on April 12^th.

Jen Bryant writes picture books, novels and poems for readers of all ages. Her biography A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, received a Caldecott Honor. Their second collaboration A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, won the ALA Schneider Family Book Award for ages 0-10, the Orbus Pictus award, was named a Sibert Honor Book, received four starred reviews and is a Junior Library Guild Selection. Jen’s novel in verse RINGSIDE 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial is an Oprah Recommended Book for ages 12 & up. Other titles include Pieces of Georgia (IRA Young Adult Choices Pick), The Trial (1935 Lindbergh kidnapping trial, a Borders New Voices Pick),Kaleidoscope Eyes (a 1960’s–era novel, a Junior Library Guild Selection),The Fortune of Carmen Navarro (Paterson Prize for Young People), Georgia’s Bones, celebrating the life of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and Music for the End of Time, based on a true WWII story.

Jen has a BA from Gettysburg College, an MA from Arcadia University, and an Honorary Doctorate from Gettysburg College. She has taught writing and Children’s Literature at West Chester University and Bryn Mawr College and gives school and public lectures throughout the year. She lives with her family in Chester County, PA. When she’s not writing or taming the piles on her desk, Jen enjoys visiting museums, swimming, cycling, listening to music and cheering wildly for the Phillies.