Kathi Appelt

{{Infobox writer |name = Kathi Appelt |image = Kathi Appelt 2017.jpg |caption = Appelt at the 2017 Texas Book Festival |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|7|6}} |birth_place = Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. |alma_mater = Texas A&M University |occupation = Writer, writing teacher |period = 1990s–present |genre = Children's literature, picture books, non-fiction |subject =  |website = {{URL|kathiappelt.com}} }}

'''Kathi Appelt''' (born July 6, 1954)<ref name=isfdb/> is an American author of more than forty books for children and young adults.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kathi Appelt|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/kathi-appelt/|access-date=2021-01-16|website=www.fantasticfiction.com}}</ref> She won the annual PEN USA award for Children's Literature recognizing ''The Underneath'' (2008).<ref name=PEN/>

==Biography==

Kathi Appelt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina,<ref name=isfdb/> and grew up in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Texas A&M University and lives in College Station, Texas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview with Kathi Appelt – Pine Reads Review |date=7 April 2018 |url=https://www.pinereadsreview.com/blog/interview-with-kathi-appelt/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Appelt is the author of more than 30 books. She writes novels, picture books, poetry, and nonfiction for children and young adults.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview: Children's-YA Author Kathi Appelt |url=https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit-resources/read/authors/interviews/kathiappelt/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Cynthia Leitich Smith |language=en-US}}</ref> Her books have been translated into several languages: Spanish, Chinese, French, and Swedish.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Editions of The Underneath by Kathi Appelt |url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/2793892-the-underneath |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref> She is emerita faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kathi Appelt |url=https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/kathi-appelt/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Vermont College of Fine Arts |language=en-US}}</ref>

Her first novel was ''The Underneath'', illustrated by David Small and published by Simon & Schuster in 2008. It features a cat and dog who live mainly beneath an old house in the Louisiana–Texas bayou. For that work she received the annual Children's Literature award from PEN Center USA<ref name=PEN>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100405064556/http://www.penusa.org/node/102 "2009 Lit Awards"]. PEN Center USA (penusa.org). Archived 2010-04-05. Retrieved 2014-09-24.</ref> and she was also a runner-up for the National Book Award (National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist)<ref>[http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2008_ypl_appelt.html "2008 National Book Award Finalist, Young People's Literature: Kathi Appelt"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011124716/http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2008_ypl_appelt.html |date=2009-10-11 }}. National Book Foundation. With linked interview transcript.</ref> and the American Library Association Newbery Medal (Newbery Honor Book).<ref>[http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.cfm "Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922–Present"]. Association for Library Service to Children. American Library Association.</ref>

Her papers are held in the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi (unprocessed manuscripts collection, 1985–2005).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/degrum/public_html/html/research/findaids/DG1256.html|title= Kathi Appelt Papers |publisher= University of Southern Mississippi Libraries}}</ref>

==Selected works== * ''Someone’s Come to Our House'', illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Eerdmans, 1999)<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Someone's Come to Our House by Kathi Appelt |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780802851444 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref> * ''The Alley Cat's Meow'', illustrated by Jon Goodell (Harcourt, 2002) * ''Poems from Homeroom: A Writer's Place to Start'' (Henry Holt and Co., 2002) * ''The Underneath'', illustrated by David Small (Simon & Schuster, 2008) * ''Brand-New Baby Blues'', illustrated by Kelly Murphy (HarperCollins, 2009) * ''Keeper'', illus. August Hall (Atheneum Books, 2010) * ''The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp'' (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013) * ''Maybe a Fox,'' illus. Alison McGee (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016) * ''Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky'', co-authored by Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer (HarperCollins, 2001; Purple House Press 2019) * ''Max Attacks'', illus. Penelope Dullaghan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2019) * ''Angel Thieve''s (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2019) ==References== {{reflist |25em |refs= <ref name=isfdb> [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?134569 "Kathi Appelt – Summary Bibliography"]. ISFDB. Retrieved 2014-09-24.</ref> }}

==External links== {{Commons category|Kathi Appelt}} {{Portal |Children's literature}} * {{official website }} * {{isfdb name|134569}} * {{LCAuth|n85282426|Kathi Appelt|41|}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appelt, Kathi}} Category:1954 births Category:American children's writers Category:Newbery Honor winners Category:People from Fayetteville, North Carolina Category:Texas A&M University alumni Category:Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty Category:Living people Category:21st-century American novelists Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:American women children's writers Category:Novelists from Vermont Category:21st-century American women academics Category:21st-century American academics