'What about a fourth apple?'

 

“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

 

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on this date in 1936, Willard was a novelist, poet and author/illustrator of children’s books. She won the coveted Newbery Medal for her combination poetry-prose children’s book A Visit To William Blake’s Inn.   Her children's book Sailing to Cythera, and other Anatole Stories also won many awards and has been listed among the all-time best in the genre'.

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).   After teaching writing at Vassar, she branched off to her own writing, particularly children’s and young adult books, but continued to combine writing and teaching throughout her life.   Willard authored 4 novels, 4 nonfiction books, 18 books of poetry, and 43 children’s books, the last one, Gum, published just months before her death in 2017.  

 

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

 

“When I was growing up,” Willard said, “I loved stories in which a girl sets out on a quest . . . to rescue a prince instead of the other way around.”