Sharon Darrow
Sharon Darrow
enjoys visiting schools, libraries, and other book-related events to talk with young people about writing and how she became a writer; leading young writers’ workshops; and reading and discussing her books for children and young adults. She teaches in the Vermont College M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and has also taught in the English department at Columbia College Chicago. She has led workshops for kids and adults in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and writing for children at College of DuPage, Waubonsee Community College, and for Off-Campus Writers' Workshop, Barrington Area Arts' Council, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She received her M.F.A. in Writing (Fiction and Poetry) from Vermont College in 1996. She has been an associate editor for the poetry magazines Rhino and Columbia Poetry Review. Her short stories and poems have appeared in literary journals and have been nominated for the Illinois Arts' Council Award and the Pushcart. She has been a recipient of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Work-in-Progress Grant.
She is the author of Old Thunder and Miss Raney, illustrated by Kathryn Brown (A Melanie Kroupa Book, D-K Ink, Fall 2000—ages 3-8); a picture book biography, Through the Tempests Dark and Wild: A Story of Mary Shelley, Creator of Frankenstein, illustrated by Angela Barrett (Candlewick Press 2003—ages 8-12); and a young adult novel, The Painters of Lexieville (Candlewick Press 2003). Her poetry has also been included in Lee Bennett Hopkins’s anthology, HOME TO ME: POEMS ACROSS AMERICA, illustrated by Stephen Alcorn. Old Thunder and Miss Raney was a finalist in the Western Writers of American's 2000 Spur Awards' Storyteller category and was featured in the Kentucky Derby Museum’s exhibit “Picturing Horses.”
In addition to Sharon's programs on writing and reading poetry for preschool through college age students, her sessions designed for elementary school students address children's need to express themselves artistically, both in the written word and in visual media. She also explores voice, idiom, and American country folkways in the early 20th century. For older children and young adults, she leads writing workshops and explores the influence of culture and historical context on writing and creativity. Contact Information:
E-mail: SharDarr@aol.com (please include name of your organization in subject line)
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