Kathi Appelt | |
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Born | Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. | July 6, 1954
Occupation | Writer, writing teacher |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Texas A&M University |
Period | 1990s–present |
Genre | Children's literature, picture books, non-fiction |
Website | |
kathiappelt |
Kathi Appelt (born July 6, 1954)[1] is an American author of more than forty books for children and young adults.[2] She won the annual PEN USA award for Children's Literature recognizing The Underneath (2008).[3]
Kathi Appelt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina,[1] and grew up in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Texas A&M University and lives in College Station, Texas.[4]
Appelt is the author of more than 30 books. She writes novels, picture books, poetry, and nonfiction for children and young adults.[5] Her books have been translated into several languages: Spanish, Chinese, French, and Swedish.[6] She is emerita faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.[7]
Her first novel was The Underneath, illustrated by David Small and published by Simon & Schuster in 2008. It features a cat and dog who live mainly beneath an old house in the Louisiana–Texas bayou. For that work she received the annual Children's Literature award from PEN Center USA[3] and she was also a runner-up for the National Book Award (National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist)[8] and the American Library Association Newbery Medal (Newbery Honor Book).[9]
Her papers are held in the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi (unprocessed manuscripts collection, 1985–2005).[10]