Jen Bryant

• Name — Jen Bryant • Birth Name — Jennifer Fisher • Born — 13 May 1960 • Birthplace — Easton, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Occupation — Children's and young adult writer and poet • Genre — Non-fiction, picture books, biographies, novels, poetry • Website — https: www.jenbryant.com/

Bryant (née Jennifer Fisher) was born in 1960, in Easton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Flemington, New Jersey. Bryant grew up next to a funeral home, where her father and grandfather were undertakers. She was fascinated by the manual typewriter her father used and would "try and copy whatever material happened to be lying around: drafts of obituaries. And what are obituaries, really, but one's life summed up in a paragraph or two? Good ones leave an impression of the person as an individual. I suppose as I practiced typing them, I must have absorbed some of the craft behind the writing of these little ‘biographies'." She graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey, in 1978 and attended Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she received her bachelor's degree in French and minored in German and secondary education.

After graduating from Gettysburg College, Bryant taught French and German at Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia, where she also coached their cross country teams. After moving with her family to Chester County, Pennsylvania, Bryant began to write poetry, to study independently with poet Tina Barr, and to host poetry readings in local independent bookstores. Encouraged and mentored by authors Eileen Spinelli and Jerry Spinelli, she began to write picture books and novels in verse and to submit them to publishers. She continued to teach and to write while obtaining a M.A. in English from Arcadia University in 1999, where she was mentored by poet David Keplinger. In 1999, Bryant taught writing and children's literature at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and delivered lectures and workshops for schools and colleges. She continued writing poetry for adults and novels and picture books for children, eventually focusing on children's literature. Bryant's writing for children has been recognized with the Robert F. Sibert International Book Medal, the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award, and the Schneider Family Book Award. In May 2013, along with Julia Chang Bloch and David Gergen, Bryant received an honorary doctorate degree from Gettysburg College, her alma mater. She currently serves on the board of trustees for Gettysburg College.

Bryant lives with her family in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

• Working Moms: A Portrait of their Lives (six of seven books in the career series from 1990 to 1991) • Georgia's Bones, illustrated by Bethanne Andersen (about Georgia O'Keeffe), 2005 • Music for the End of Time (about Olivier Messiaen), 2005) • Call Me Marianne, illustrated by David A. Johnson (about Marianne Moore), 2006 • A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (2008) • A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (2013) • The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (2014) • Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille, illustrated by Boris Kulikov (2016) • Feed Your Mind: A Story of August Wilson, illustrated by Cannaday Chapman (2019) • Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball, illustrated by Frank Morrison (2020) • Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura (2022) • Foote Was First! How One Curious Woman Connected Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change, illustrated by Amy June Bates (2026)

• Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the Everglades, illustrated by Larry Raymond (1992) • Margaret Murie: A Wilderness Life, illustrated by Antonio Castro (1993) • Louis Braille, Inventor (1994) • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Artist (1995) • Lucretia Mott: A Guiding Light (1996) • Thomas Merton: Poet, Prophet, Priest (1997)

• The Trial (2004) • Pieces of Georgia (2006) • Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial (2008) • Kaleidoscope Eyes (2009)

• The Fortune of Carmen Navarro (2010)

• The Whole Measure (chapbook), Greyhounds Press, 2006 • Hand Crafted (chapbook), Nova House Press, 2001 • Individual poems published in American Literary Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Paterson Literary Review, Poet Lore, Smartish Pace, Comstock Review, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Journal of NJ Poets, Northeast Corridor, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and others.

Bryant's poems and articles have appeared in Highlights magazine and Image, and others. Her work is anthologized in Rush Hour: A Journal of Contemporary Voices (Delacorte Press); You Just Wait, The Poetry Friday Anthology; The Poetry Anthology for Middle School (all Pomelo Press); and One Minute Till Bedtime (Little, Brown).

Several children's books by Bryant have been translated into Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Hebrew. Six Dots, her biography of inventor Louis Braille, is available in a print braille edition. A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin was adapted for the stage by the Seattle Repertory Theatre.