Nancy Willard is an American writer: novelist, poet, author and occasional illustrator of children's books. She won the 1982 Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn.
She was born on June 26, 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she later received the B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and won five Hopwood Awards for creative writing. She also studied at Stanford University, where she received her M.A.
She has written at least forty children's books, several collections of poetry, four fiction novels and two non-fiction books, but she is probably most famous for her book A Visit to William Blake's Inn, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, which was published by Harcourt Brace in 1981. The text is a collection of poems with prose introduction and epilogue, all by Willard. It features a child's overnight stay at "William Blake's Inn", inhabited by Blake and several wonderful creatures.
Willard won the Newbery Medal for the work and the Provensens were one runner-up for the Caldecott Medal. The two annual awards by professional children's librarians recognize the year's "most distinguished contribution to American children's literature" and "most distinguished American picture book for children".
Willard moved to Poughkeepsie, New York in 1965 where she was first a professor at Vassar College and later a lecturer, giving up her tenure to focus on writing. She retired from Vassar in 2013.
Did you find this review helpful?