Welcome
- and please, call me "Gerry." I am a writer with special interests in children and animals.
My newest projects include a fantasy trilogy for children and a
collection of short stories for all women - mothers, grandmothers, and
daughters - called "Learning the Language of
Birds."
 I
am available for teaching enrichment courses, including writing, to
middle-grade children, for presenting "visiting author" talks to
grades one through twelve, and for speaking to adults about writing
for publication. Please inquire via
e-mail.
Check out my newest book:
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"The
Fog Maiden's Necklace"
in Stories From Where We Live:
The North Atlantic Coast
Fiction, Milkweed Editions, November,
2000 publication. This book was chosen
by the American Booksellers Association
for "Kids' Pick of the Lists 2000" and
"Notable Social Studies Trade Books for
Young People, 2001."
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Nature's
Unlovables
Nonfiction
for grades 5-8, Publications
International, Ltd., fall, 1990 publication.
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The
Changeling Summer
Young adult novel, Cora Verlag (a division
of Crosswinds Books), spring 1990 publication
(initially published in Germany under the title
Zaubernacht auf Black Gull Island);
reissued in Hungary in 1992.
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"Laura's
Messengers"
SCHOOL MAGAZINE, 1999 (only one-time
Australian rights purchased); scheduled for
publication on CD-ROM.
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"The
Song of Butterflies" and
"The Bambuti, The Forest's Children"
SCHOOL MAGAZINE, 1995, 1998; scheduled
for publication on CD-ROM in SIRS, Inc.
Discovery series.
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"The
Song of Butterflies"
NEW MOON, 1994.
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"Happy
New Year's Day"
HOPSCOTCH, 1995.
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"The
Sleeping Secret"
HOPSCOTCH, 1990.
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"Okapi,
The Forest Giraffe"
SCHOOL MAGAZINE, November, 1990.
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"A
Place for Jeremy"
SCHOOL MAGAZINE, 1989.
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"Bears
for Breakfast" and
"How To Make Bears for Breakfast"
SCHOOL MAGAZINE, 1988.
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"The
Horse's Complaint"
POCKETS, 1986.
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"The
Fog Maiden's Necklace"
CRICKET, 1983 (reprinted by Modern
Curriculum Press, 1986 and on computer
for classroom use by Education Systems
Technology Corporation and by Jostens
Learning Corporation); scheduled for
publication on CD-ROM.
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"Mandy's
Mystery"
SUNSHINE, 1982.
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"Nuri's
Treasure"
CRICKET, 1982 (reprinted 1984 and 1988
by SCHOOL MAGAZINE, New South Wales
Department of Education, Australia).
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"Wolf
Song"
INTERNATIONAL WOLF, scheduled for future
publication.
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"A
Valentine Recipe/Poem"
HOPSCOTCH, 1996.
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"Storm
Cat"
SCHOOL MAGAZINE, November 1993.
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"Step
for Step"
TOUCH, 1987.
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"Baptism"
POCKETS, 1986, reprinted in church school curriculum
guide, 1986.
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"Story
Scenarios"
LEARNING, scheduled for future publication.
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"Pilgrimage
to Scotland"
PADUCAH LIFE, 2002.
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"An
Unknown Tongue"
ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER, May 2000.
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"Waltzing
with the Wren"
ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER, February 1999.
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"Climb
Back in Time at Wickliffe Mounds"
PADUCAH LIFE, 1998.
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"Apple-Cheeked
Angels and Other Joys"
PADUCAH LIFE, 1998.
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"A
Small Summer Death"
ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER, 1997.
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"Make
a Big Bang Writing Science"
CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE MARKET, 1996.
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"Lost
in the Land of Motherhood,"
THE OPEN DOOR, 1994.
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"Okapi"
TRISTATE MAGAZINE, 1988.
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"Meditation
on Childhood"
THE UPPER ROOM, 1981.
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"Grandmother's
House"
WHITEWATER WOMAN, 1980.
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Published
in ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER, BLUEGRASS, APPALACHIAN HERITAGE,
BLUEGRASS, ALIVE NOW!, THE NEW ENGLAND SAMPLER, COUNTRY WOMAN, THE
WRITER, THE BEST OF 1982 (Ohio Poetry Day Association),
INTERSECTIONS 83 (chapbook, Illinois Wesleyan University Writers
Conference), and CELEBRATING WOMEN'S WORDS (chapbook, Conference
of Cincinnati Women), ALL ABOUT KIDS, WRITER'S DIGEST, THE OPEN
DOOR, KENTUCKY HUMANITIES, PADUCAH LIFE, PEGASUS.
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First
Place in picture books;
Honorable Mention
for
"The Gift of Her Uneven Flight"
(story from book in
progress), 2002.
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Numerous
awards,
Kentucky State Poetry Society, 1998, 1999, 2000,
2001.
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Third
Place in fiction,
Green River Writers, 1996.
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Fiction
Award,
Paducah Community College Fine Arts Festival, 1994.
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Third
Place in poetry,
Conference of Cincinnati Women, 1989.
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Honorable
Mention in poetry,
WRITER'S DIGEST, 1987.
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Honorable
Mention in poetry,
WRITER'S DIGEST, 1987.
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Honorable
Mention in fiction,
Conference of Cincinnati Women,
1987.
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Honorable
Mention for novel-in-progress
(THE CHANGELING SUMMER),
Illinois Wesleyan University Writers Conference,
1983, given by
Avi.
Gerry grew up close
to nature in western Kentucky, and lived in Cincinnati for many years.
She returned to western Kentucky several years ago with her own
family; assorted animals always find a warm welcome in her
house on the edge of the woods. She attended Centre College and was
graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in zoology.
English was a close second. As a newlywed in a small town, Gerry found
scant employment, so she took to reading - mostly children's books. E.B. White and C.S.
Lewis rekindled her childhood interest in writing, and she has been
writing for children and adults ever since.
Her credits include five
books and more than 50 published stories, articles and poems that have
appeared in Cricket, Hopscotch, St. Anthony's Messenger, New Moon,
Children's Writer, The Writer, Writer's Digest, Australia's School
Magazine, and a wide variety of other publications.
Gerry typically draws
from her scientific knowledge of animals and their habitats, and her
interest in nature and the environment, to develop her material.
Several entertaining books are scientifically based on zoology and
aimed at the middle grades. She often weaves themes of folklore and
mythology into her writing.
Gerry teaches
enrichment courses, including writing, to middle-grade children, and
gives visiting author talks to grades one through twelve. She has been
a speaker for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators,
and she has received numerous awards from the Kentucky State Poetry
Society, where she serves as an officer. She also works part-time as
an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature.
EDUCATION:
University of
Kentucky, B.S. in Zoology, 1977.
Centre College, 1973-1975.
MEMBERSHIPS:
Green River Writers
Kentucky State Poetry Society (Secretary)
Kentucky Writers' Coalition
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
McCracken County Friends of the Library (Board Member)
POSITIONS:
Institute of
Children's Literature, West Redding, CT.
Instructor.
"When
we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to
us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice,
solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our
wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with
us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour
of grief or bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not
healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a
friend who cares."
-Henri
Nouwen, from Out of Solitude
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