'So, who wrote that story down?'

 

“Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and the third for the one who 'took it to heart.' What a pity Heaven awarded no apple to the one who wrote the story down.” – Nancy Willard

Willard, born in Ann Arbor, MI, on this date in 1936 was a novelist, poet and both author/illustrator of children’s books.  She won the coveted Newbery Medal for her combination poetry-prose A Visit To William Blake’s Inn.

Growing up “surrounded by stories and storytellers,” she studied writing at the University of Michigan, where she earned both her B.A. and Ph.D.  (sandwiched around a Master’s degree from Stanford).   She started her career teaching writing at Vassar and then branched off to her writing, particularly children’s and young adult books, combining writing and teaching throughout her life.   

 

 Over the years she authored 4 novels, 4 nonfiction books, 18 books of poetry, and a remarkable 43 children’s books, the last one, Gum, published just months before her death in 2017.  

 

     Among her many awards besides the Newbery were an O.Henry Prize, 2 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships, and a Devins Award for Poetry.

Always looking to write stories with a twist, she noted, “When I was growing up, I loved stories in which a girl sets out on a quest to rescue the prince instead of the other way around.”