Janice N. Harrington

Janice N. Harrington is an American storyteller, poet, and children's writer.^[1]

Janice N. Harrington
Born	1956 (age 68–69) Vernon, Alabama
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Nebraska–Lincoln University of Iowa (MLS)
Occupation(s)	poet and children's writer
Website	https://janiceharrington.com/

Life

She grew up in Vernon, Alabama. Her family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to escape racial segregation when she was eight.^[2] She now lives in Illinois.^[3]

Her work appears in African American Review, Alaska Quarterly Review,^[4] Beloit Poetry Journal, Harvard Review, Indiana Review,^[5] Field,^[6] Prairie Schooner,^[7] Southern Review,^[8] Black Nature^[9] and other journals.

Career

She worked as a public librarian in Champaign, Illinois, and as a professional storyteller, appearing at the National Storytelling Festival.^[10] Harrington was also the coordinator of youth services and a caregiver at the Champaign Public library.^[3]She is now a professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[11]

Selected awards

• 2009 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award
• 2008 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, for Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone^[12]
• 2008 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize ^[13]
• 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Poetry
• 2007 TIME Magazine's top 10 children's books
• 2007 Cybils Award for the year's best fiction picture book: "the children’s and YA bloggers’ literary awards"^[14]
• 2005 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, for Going North^[15][16]
• Illinois Arts Council Literary Award^[17]

Works

Poetry

• Yard Show. BOA Editions, Ltd. 2024. ISBN 9781960145314.
• Primitive: The Art and Life of Horace H. Pippin. BOA Editions, Ltd. 2016. ISBN 978-1-942683-20-9.
• The Hands of Strangers: Poems from the Nursing Home. BOA Editions, Ltd. 2011. ISBN 978-1-934414-54-5. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
• Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone. BOA Editions, Ltd. 2007. ISBN 978-1-929918-89-8. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
• "They All Sang". Harvard Review (28). 2005. Archived from the original on 2009-06-30.
• "Shaking the Grass", Verse Daily

Children's

• Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner. Illustrator Theodore Taylor III. Calkins Creek. 2019. ISBN 978-1-629-79558-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• Catching a Storyfish. WordSong. 2016. ISBN 978-1-62979-429-7.
• Busy-Busy Little Chick. Illustrator Brian Pinkney. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2013. ISBN 978-0-374-34746-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• Roberto Walks Home. Illustrator Jody Wheeler. Viking Penguin. 2008. ISBN 978-0-670-06316-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County. Illustrator Shelley Jackson. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2007. ISBN 978-0-374-31251-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• Going North. Illustrator Jerome Lagarrigue. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2004. ISBN 978-0-374-32681-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)