Contact Information
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.williamdurbin.com
Book Category: Young Adult Historical Fiction, Non Fiction
Age Group: 8-12
Books
Dead Mans Rapids. University of Minnesota Press, April, 2017.
Wintering. Legacy Bound, 2017.
El Lector. Pineapple Press, 2014.
Blackwater Ben. Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Series, University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
Song of Sampo Lake. Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Series, University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
The Darkest Evening. Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Series, University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
The Winter War. Wendy Lamb Books, 2008.
The Journal of C.J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935. My Name is America Series, Scholastic, 2002.
The Journal of Otto Peltonen, A Finnish Immigrant. My Name is America Series, Scholastic, 2000.
The Journal of Sean Sullivan, A Transcontinental Railroad Worker. My Name is America Series, Scholastic, 1999. Reprinted as
Arnold Palmer. Chelsea House, 1998.
Tiger Woods. Chelsea House, 1998.
The Broken Blade, Delacorte, 1997, Yearling/Random House, 1998.
Highlights
A former teacher with 28 years of classroom experience on every level from elementary through college, I have an MA from Middlebury College, and I have supervised writing research projects for the National Council of Teachers of English, the Bingham Trust for Charity, and the Bread Loaf School of English. In addition to my novels, I’ve published poems, essays, and stories in a variety of journals and literary magazines.
Awards
For The Broken Blade
Great Lakes Booksellers Association Award Winner, 1998
Minnesota Book Award Winner, 1998
Scholastic Book Club Selection, 1998
Boy’s Life Magazine Serialization, 2000-2002
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age List, 1998
Northeast Minnesota Book Award Finalist, 1998
A Bank Street College Children’s Book of the Year, 1998
Kentucky Blue Grass Award nominee, 1999
North Carolina Book Award Nominee, 2000
New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award Nominee, 2000
For The Darkest Evening
Minnesota Book Award, 2005
Junior Library Guild Selection, 2005
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age List, 2005
For El Lector
American Library Association Amelia Bloomer List, 2007
St. Petersburg Times newspaper serialization, 2009
For Blackwater Ben
Maude Hart Lovelace Nominee, 2007-2008
For Wintering
NE Minnesota Book Award, 2009
Scholastic Book Club Selection, 2000
For The Winter War
Best of the Year YA Fiction – KLIATT Editor’s Choice List
Michigan Reading Association Finalist – Great Lakes Great Books Award
Best-of-the-year List – Cooperative Children’s Book Center
For Dead Man’s Rapids
Northeast Minnesota Book Award finalist, 2018
Presentations
I make 50+ appearances annually at schools, conferences, and libraries. I will present to large group assemblies and/or conduct writing workshops. As a former teacher, I relate well to groups of all ages, but my historical fiction, with its emphasis on the fur trade, immigration, logging, homesteading, and mining history is an ideal curricular fit for the middle grades. 6th grade classes in particular find my books useful as supplements for their Minnesota history studies. In fact, I’ve been invited to visit the sixth graders in many schools for 10 and even 20 years in a row!
Fees
$600 per day for in-state events or $300 for a half day, and $700 for out-of-state appearances, plus travel expenses.