Rita Williams-Garcia (born Rita Williams; April 13, 1957) is an American writer of novels for children and young adults. In 2010, her young adult novel ''Jumped'' was a National Book Award finalist for Young People's Literature. She won the 2011 Newbery Honor Award,

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award recognizes o ...

, and

Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction is an annual American children's book award that recognizes historical fiction. It was established in 1982 by Scott O'Dell, author of ''Island of the Blue Dolphins'' and 25 other children's books, in ho ...

for her book ''One Crazy Summer''. She won the PEN/Norma Klein Award. Her 2013 book, ''P.S. Be Eleven'', was a

Junior Literary Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samuel W. Craig and H ...

selection, a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Editors Choice Book, and won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2014. In 2016 her book ''Gone Crazy in Alabama'' won the Coretta Scott King Award. In 2017, her book ''Clayton Byrd Goes Underground'' was a finalist for the

National Book Award for young people's literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writer ...

Life

Williams-Garcia was born in

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. Her father was in the military. She graduated from

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

in 1980, where she studied with

Richard Price Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer and pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the F ...

and Sonya Pilcer. She lives in

Jamaica, New York Jamaica is a neighborhood in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. It has a popular large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis, Queens, Hollis, ...

. She taught for many years at

Vermont College of Fine Arts Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level college affiliated with California Institute of the Arts. It offers Master's degrees in a low-residency format. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award wi ...

Works

*''Blue Tights'', Lodestar Books, 1988, *''Fast Talk on a Slow Track'', Dutton, 1991, ; reprint, Paw Prints, 2008, *''Like Sisters on the Homefront'', Lodestar Books, 1995, ; reprint, Paw Prints, 2008, *; reprint, HarperCollins, 2002, *; reprint HarperCollins, 2007, *; reprint, HarperCollins, 2010, * *''P.S. Be Eleven'', 2013, *'' Gone Crazy in Alabama'', 2015 *''Bottle Cap Boys: Dancing on Royal Street,'' 2015 *''Clayton Byrd Goes Underground,'' 2017 *''A Sitting in St. James'', published in May 2021 by Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books,

References

External links

Author websiteTwitter page"Warning: Characters May Appear As They Are or Why I Write Realistic Fiction"
''Hunger Mountain''

''Cynsations'', March 27, 2009

''Rutgers'' *Mélina Mangal, ''Rita Williams-Garcia'', Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2003, * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams-Garcia, Rita American children's writers American young adult novelists Newbery Honor winners Hofstra University alumni Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty Writers from Queens, New York Novelists from New York City 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 1957 births Living people American women children's writers American women novelists American women writers of young adult literature Novelists from Vermont American women academics African-American writers 21st-century African-American people African-Americans in literature Coretta Scott King Award winners