William Alexander is a National Book Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of middle grade fantasy and science fiction. Additional honors include the Eleanor Cameron Award, the Earphones Award, two Junior Library Guild Selections, two CBC Best Children’s Book of the Year Awards, a Mythopoetic Award finalist, a Cybils Award finalist, and an International Latino Book Award finalist. His novels include Goblin Secrets, Ghoulish Song, Ambassador, Nomad, A Properly Unhaunted Place, and A Festival of Ghosts. He studied theater and folklore at Oberlin College, English at the University of Vermont, and creative writing at Clarion. He now teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Reviews

“A fun and fast-paced supernatural mystery with secret depths for those who dare explore them.”
–Kirkus, starred review of A Properly Unhaunted Place (2017)

“The superb conclusion to this two-part tale of space diplomacy restarts Gabriel’s tale at the very moment Ambassador concluded… Alexander is clearly passionate about science, space exploration, and social justice, but he never allows that passion to shortchange the crackerjack adventure.“
– Kirkus, starred review of Nomad (2015)

“Alexander’s world, blending steampunk and witchy magic, is impressively convincing and evocative in its oddities. Though highly textured, it’s tightly woven and reassuringly seamless. The result is wryly humorous and bearably yet excitingly menacing: Even while much is left unexplained, Rownie’s triumph is both gripping and tantalizing.”
– Kirkus, starred review of Goblin Secrets (2012)

Keynote Presentations and Workshops

Folkloric Inspirations & Adaptations: The Shape of Stories

An exploration of narrative structure in folktales, novels, and picture books, and how writers can draw from the shape of stories to create useful rituals to shape their writing life.

Acting for Authors

Theatrical games, exercises, and techniques can be illuminating for storytellers in any medium. Transferring these methods from the stage to the writer’s notebook,  fantasy author William Alexander explores character creation and voice, and how writers can expand their intuitive understanding of their characters.

Dangerous & Foolish: The Offenses of Fantastical Fiction

Fantasy literature has long endured two accusations: that it is both foolishly useless and dangerously powerful. Fantasy author William Alexander unpacks this paradox in his genre of choice.

Magic, Science, and Neoteny: Why Science Fiction and Fantasy are Vital for Young Audiences

Children know what it’s like to navigate a world that they do not understand, and do not yet expect to understand. Adolescents know what it’s like to transform into something else, and to be constantly perched on the edge of further transformations. Both must be able to stand on uncertain ground. Both science fiction and fantasy offer helpful modes of thought for coping with an unknown, uncertain world–and both offer us good ways to write about it.

Presentations can be adapted or customized to any audience or occasion.

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Website

Availability and Honorariums