Cynthia Voigt

Cynthia Voigt (born February 25, 1942) is an American writer of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. Her first book in the Tillerman family series, Homecoming, was nominated for several international prizes and adapted as a 1996 film. Her novel Dicey's Song won the 1983 Newbery Medal.

Voigt received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1995 recognizing her contribution in writing for teens.

Cynthia Voigt was born February 25, 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts and worked in advertising in New York City. In 1964, she married and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she started teaching. She taught second grade (and one high school English class) at the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland, from 1966 to 1971. She divorced in 1972, and taught high school English in Glen Burnie, Maryland. She began writing again and remarried in 1974, to Walter Voigt, who taught classical Greek at The Key School, where she returned to teach high school English again. After winning the Newbery Medal for "Dicey's Song," she left teaching to write full-time and moved to Deer Isle, Maine. She is the mother of two children, Peter and Jessica.

The ALA Margaret Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". Voigt won the annual award in 1995, citing seven books published from 1981 to 1986: Homecoming, Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, Building Blocks, The Runner, Jackaroo, and Izzy, Willy-Nilly(‡). According to the YA librarians, her "work for young adults over a period of years has provided an authentic voice ... Voigt's intense character studies introduce young adults to genuine people often isolated from society. While her characters may be orphaned, abandoned, disabled, their strength to overcome adversity is extraordinary."

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