Visiting Author and Writer Programs
Elizabeth Anne Worsham Endowed Visiting Author Fund
Elizabeth Anne Worsham Endowed Visiting Author Fund
The Elizabeth Anne Worsham Endowed Visiting Author Fund was created in 2004 by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph I. Worsham II, friends, and family in memory of Elizabeth Anne Worsham '13. This annual Lower School Visiting Author Program encourages a love of reading in children, so that they may carry that gift with them into adulthood.
"It's a special experience to visit with the person who made the books you cherish," explains Lower School Library Media Director Megan Barnes. "To listen to, ask questions, and find out how a book really comes into being is incredible."
Through the Elizabeth Anne Worsham Endowed Visiting Author Program, ESD supports children learning a true love for reading every day. This idea comes to life each time students gather around Elizabeth's special rocking chair to read books aloud for story time. The chair features the scripture verse from Mark 10:14, ‘Let the little children come to me' which is depicted by an intricate carving of Jesus surrounded by children.
Below is a comprehensive list of all Visiting Authors to ESD's Lower School since 1975, as well as this year's Visiting Author.
1975-1990
1975: Byrd Baylor
1976: Robert Burch, Jean Craighead George, Leonard Everett Fisher
1977: Scott Corbett, Lillian Hoban, Ellen Raskin
1978: Sid Fleischman, Robert Quackenbush
1979: Marc Brown, Eleanor Cameron, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
1980: Jose Aruego, Donald Sobol
1981: Karla Kuskin
1982: Jean Fritz, Syd Hoff
1983: Clyde Robert Bulla, Jim Trelease
1984: Franklyn Branley, Tana Hoban, George Shannon
1985: Johanna Hurwitz, Leonard and Ethel Kessler
1986: Steven Kroll, Bill Wallace
1987: Diane Stanley, Barbara Williams
1988: Pat Cummings, John Erickson, Paul Fleishman, Madeleine L'Engle, Tom Townsend
1989: Bernard Waber, Bill Wallace, Paul O. Zelinsky
1990: Felicia Bond, Marc Brown, Lois Lowry, Jim Trelease
1991-2005
2006-Present
SALINA YOON
Bill Cook Visiting Writers' Program
Bill Cook Visiting Writers' Program, funded by The Bill Cook Endowment
The Bill Cook Endowment Fund, established in 2018 and created through a gift honoring Bill Cook's 35-year career as a faculty member at The Episcopal School of Dallas, supports a Visiting Writers’ Program which benefits our middle school students. The program itself aims to perpetuate the legacy of his desire to open the mind of each student to the wonder of words.
The Bill Cook Visiting Writers' Program annually invites a writer of accomplishment or of promise to visit the ESD campus to share with students her/his work. In doing so, the writer calls attention to the craft of writing and the power of precise language, be it creative writing, historical writing, business, scientific, or other forms of writing. Realizing that writing is personal and that middle school students can be self-conscious, it is important early on in life to convey that good writing is seldom innate; rather, it is more often the byproduct of discipline, study, and labor. The program provides a platform to foster mindfulness of the importance of quality writing among middle school students.
Below is a list of all Visiting Writers to ESD's Gill Library since the Bill Cook Visiting Writers' Program was established in 2018.
2023-24: Rebecca Stead
2022-23: Lisa Greenwald, Nathan Hale
2021-22: Soman Chainani, Jeramey Kraatz
2020-21: Paul Fleischman
2019-20: Erica Abbett, Tonya Bolden, Polly Holyoke
2018-19: Karen Blumenthal
2021-22: Lisa Greenwald