2015 PEN/Faulkner Writers in the Schools Author is Jacqueline Woodson

Nantucket, MA -- We are pleased to announce that the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools author is Jacqueline Woodson, an award-winning writer whose work spans a spectrum of ages from children to young adults. She will join us for two days of programs on March 31 and April 1, reaching the Nantucket High School, Cyrus Pierce Middle School and Nantucket Elementary. Importantly, our program this year will reach the entire island's 3rd-8th grades, including the island's two independent schools.

Ms. Woodson is a critically acclaimed author, having won numerous awards, including this year's National Book Award for Young Adult Fiction as well as a Newbury Honor for Brown Girl Dreaming, as well the Coretta Scott King Award. Drawing on a childhood filled with the wonder of words, and the marvels of stories, Jacqueline Woodson has written: "I knew what made me happiest was writing."

"From the very beginning of envisioning the Nantucket Book Festival, we knew that our work needed to include an outreach to our island's children. PEN/Faulkner's Writers in Schools was a natural partnership, and one that has worked beautifully," says Co-Founder of Nantucket Book Festival and PEN/Faulkner Vice President, Mary Haft.

Nantucket Book Festival has partnered with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's Writers in Schools program, in crafting programs for the Nantucket school system. This is the third year of our program, reaching the island's Elementary, Middle and High School with works of contemporary literature, bringing some of the country's finest children's and young adult authors to the island to meet with our students.

"Just as the stars above Nantucket charted the course of your great fleets, it is the books in the hands of eager young readers which will chart the course of your community." - Jack Gantos, PEN/Faulkner WIS/NBF visiting author