Shelley Tanaka
| Shelley Tanaka | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Editor, writer, translator, writing teacher |
| Period | 1980s–present |
| Genre | Children's literature, non-fiction |
Shelley Tanaka is a Canadian editor of numerous young adult novels, an award-winning author of non-fiction for children, a translator, and a writing teacher.
Biography
Shelley Tanaka was born in Toronto, Canada. She received an Honours Bachelor's degree in English and German from Queen's University, and a Master's degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto.[1][2] She lives in Ontario, Canada.[3]
Tanaka began her editing career at Clarke Irwin.[4] She has been the fiction editor at Groundwood Books, a Canadian children's book publisher, since 1983 and has edited books by many Canadian writers, including Tim Wynne-Jones, Deborah Ellis, Martha Brooks, Sarah Ellis and Alan Cumyn. She is the editor of thirteen Governor General's Award winning books.[1][5][6]
Shelley Tanaka writes nonfiction for children, including books in the I Was There series and A Day That Changed America series. She has won numerous awards for her writing, among them the Orbis Pictus Award in 2009.[7] Her books have been translated into several languages: German, Danish, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Thai.[8] Additionally, she has translated many children's picture books and novels from German and French into English.[2][8]
Tanaka teaches in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.[3]
Awards
- Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator won the Orbis Pictus Award in 2009.[9]
- Translation of Good for Nothing by Michel Noël was on the IBBY Honour List for translation in 2006.[10]
- Secrets of the Mummies won the Science in Society Children's Book Award in 2000.
- Discovering the Iceman won the Mr. Christie's Book Award in 1997.[11]
- On Board the Titanic won the Silver Birch Award in 1997.[12]
- The Buried City of Pompei won the Information Book Award in 1997.
- On Board the Titanic won the Information Book Award in 1996.[13]
- On Board the Titanic and The Buried City of Pompeii were finalists for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.[4]
Bibliography
Novels
- Nobody Knows, Novelization of the Japanese film by Hirokazu Kore-eda (2012)[14]
Historical events
- Earthquake! (2004)
- Gettysburg (2003)
- D-Day (2003)
- The Alamo (2003)
- Attack on Pearl Harbor (2001)
- Lost Temple of the Aztecs (1998)
- The Buried City of Pompeii (1996)
- On Board the Titanic (1996)
- The Disaster of the Hindenburg (1993
Biographies
- Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator (2008)
- In the Time of Knights (2000)
- One More Border: The True Story of One Family’s Escape from War-Torn Europe, co-written with William Kaplan (1998)
Arts
- Footnotes: Dancing the World's Best-Loved Ballets, co-written with Frank Augustyn (2001)
Environment
- Climate Change (2006)
- A Great Round Wonder: My Book of the World (1991)
- The Heat Is On: Facing Our Energy Problem (1991)
Archaeology
- Mummies: The Newest, Coolest & Creepiest from Around the World (2005)
- New Dinos (2003)
- Secrets of the Mummies (1999)
- Graveyards of the Dinosaurs (1998)
- Discovering the Iceman (1996)
Fiction
- "Ghost Town" a short story in Dear Canada – Hoping for Home: Stories of Arrival (2011)
Earlier works
- Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, adapted for young readers (1998)
- The Illustrated Father Goose (1995)
- Mr. Dressup's Birthday Party Book (1988)
- Mr. Dressup's 50 More Things to Make and Do, written with Ernie Coombs (1984, 1991)
- Mr. Dressup's Things to Make and Do, written with Ernie Coombs (1982, 1991)
- Michi's New Year (1980)
Books translated into English
- French
- The Birthday Party by Michel Aubin (1987)
- The Secret Code by Michel Aubin (1987)[8]
- Himalaya by Tenzing Norbu Lama (2002)
- Secret of the Snow Leopard by Tenzing Norbu Lama (2004)
- Good for Nothing by Michel Nöel (2004)
- Broken Memory by Élisabeth Combres (2009)
- German
- The Fire: An Ethiopian Folk Tale by Heinz Janisch (Groundwood Books, 2002)[2]
- True Friends: Tales from Tanzania by John Kilaka (Groundwood, 2006), picture book OCLC 61300807
- Girl from Mars by Tamara Bach (Groundwood, 2009)[2]
- Definitely Not for Little Ones: Some Very Grimm Fairy Tale Comics by Rotraut Susanne Berner (Groundwood, 2009)[2]
- Hound and Hare by Rotraut Susannne Berner (Groundwood, 2011)[2]
References
- 1 2 "Member Profile | The Writers' Union of Canada". Writersunion.ca. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Translators: Shelley Tanaka". Cultures in Translation. Goethe-Institut (goethe.de). Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- 1 2 "Shelley Tanaka | Vermont College of Fine Arts". Vcfa.edu. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- 1 2 "Shelley Tanaka". Lookingglassreview.com. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ "Shelley Tanaka | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_home.cfm
- ↑ "NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children". Ncte.org. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- 1 2 3 "On board the Titanic : what it was like when the great liner sank". Worldcat.org. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ http://www.ncte.org/awards/orbispictus http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/awards09.html
- ↑ "IBBY Honour List | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ "Mr. Christie's Book Awards". Ucalgary.ca. 11 June 1998. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ "Silver Birch Award | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ "Information Book Award | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ↑ Shelley Tanaka. "Nobody Knows". House of Anansi. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
Interviews
Additional resources
- Canadian Children's Book Centre. The Storymakers: Writing Children’s Books. Pembroke. 2000. ISBN 978-1-55138-108-4
- Gertridge, Allison. Meet Canadian Authors and Illustrators. Scholastic Canada. Revised edition 2002. ISBN 978-0-439-98780-6
- Rockman, Connie C., editor. Ninth Book of Junior Authors & Illustrators. New York: H.W. Wilson. 2004. ISBN 0-8242-1043-3.
External links
- Shelley Tanaka at Library of Congress Authorities, with 25 catalogue records