Sylvia Vardell (USA) is the current president of IBBY. She is Professor Emerita of Literature for Children and Young People at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX and has written over eighteen books, numerous book chapters and journal articles. She also has a popular blog, Poetry for Children. Sylvia has collaborated with poets around the world to create anthologies of poetry that provide strategies for teachers. She has taught at the University of Zimbabwe as a Fulbright Scholar, studied at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, and has conducted over 170 presentations at conferences around the world. As an active member of USBBY she has served on many committees and as President in 2006. In 2017, she was presented with the USBBY Alida Cutts Lifetime Membership Award in recognition of her contributions. Sylvia served as co-editor of IBBY’s quarterly journal Bookbird. She has also served on the IBBY EC from 2018 to 2022, was a member of the Bookbird Inc. Board and was chair of the IBBY Reading Promotion Jury for the 2022 awards.
Contact details: svardell@gmail.com