Sylvia Vardell

Sylvia Vardell came to poetry through the stacks. As Professor Emerita in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University, she spent decades helping librarians and teachers understand that poetry isn't a genre to be feared or rushed past — it's one of the most powerful tools they have. The daughter of German immigrants, she grew up with a deep personal sense of what it means to find belonging through language, and that experience quietly shapes everything she writes and teaches. Her advocacy for English language learners and immigrant students isn't an abstract professional position; it's personal.

Her scholarly output is remarkable in both its volume and its usefulness: more than 25 books, over 100 journal articles, a long-running poetry column for the American Library Association's Book Links, and a "Poetry for Children" blog that has become a trusted resource for educators across the country. Titles like Poetry Aloud Here!, Poetry People, and The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists aren't just reference books — they're the kind of thing teachers keep on their desks and reach for again and again. In 2014, the Scholastic Library Publishing Award recognized her for her sustained and unusual contribution to the guidance of reading by children and young people. It was well earned.

Her most celebrated work has come in collaboration with poet Janet S. Wong, with whom she co-created the Poetry Friday Anthology series and Poetry Friday Power Books through their shared publishing home, Pomelo Books. The two met at a book signing for Janet's A Suitcase of Seaweed in the mid-1990s, and the friendship that grew from that encounter eventually became one of the most productive poetry partnerships in children's education. Sylvia brings the scholar's eye — the knowledge of what teachers need, what standards require, and how to make a collection sing in a classroom. Janet brings the poet's ear. Together, they've helped a generation of educators fall in love with poetry all over again.