Shelley Tanaka

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.

Shelley Tanaka
BornToronto, Ontario
OccupationEditor, writer, translator, writing teacher
Period1980s–present
GenreChildren's literature, non-fiction

Biography

Shelley Tanaka was born in Toronto, Ontario, 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

Historical events

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

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 by Shelley Tanaka
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)
  • Grandfather and the Moon by Stéphanie Lapointe (2017)
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. "Member Profile | The Writers' Union of Canada". Writersunion.ca. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  2. "Translators: Shelley Tanaka". Cultures in Translation. Goethe-Institut (goethe.de). Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  3. "Shelley Tanaka | Vermont College of Fine Arts". Vcfa.edu. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  4. "Shelley Tanaka". Lookingglassreview.com. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  5. "Shelley Tanaka | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 13 June 2008. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children". Ncte.org. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  8. "On board the Titanic : what it was like when the great liner sank". Worldcat.org. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  9. http://www.ncte.org/awards/orbispictus "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "IBBY Honour List | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 28 May 2008. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  11. "Mr. Christie's Book Awards". Ucalgary.ca. 11 June 1998. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  12. "Silver Birch Award | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 28 May 2008. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  13. "Information Book Award | Canadian Children's Book Centre". Bookcentre.ca. 28 May 2008. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  14. Shelley Tanaka. "Nobody Knows". House of Anansi. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2012.

Interviews
  • Ward, Barbara A. and Terrell A. Young. "Talking with Shelley Tanaka." Booklist Online. 2 June 2009.

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.
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