ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CARMEN AGRA DEEDY is an award-winning storyteller and author of six books for children.

She was born in Havana, Cuba, and emigrated to the United States with her family in 1963 during the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution. She grew up in Decatur, Georgia and her combined Latin American and Southern heritage has had a rich influence upon her work.

She has charmed thousands of adults and children with her performances as a storyteller at festivals, schools, conferences, bookstores, and museums across the country and around the world. She has performed at the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; on Broadway at the New Victory Theater; at the the Disney Institute, and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, as well as many other storytelling festivals nationwide.

Deedy is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's "Weekend All Things Considered" and "Latino USA." Her audio collection, Growing Up Cuban in Decatur, Georgia, was named 1995 Best Audiobook--Storytelling by Publishers Weekly, and was also the recipient of the Parents' Choice Gold Award.

She is the author of six children's books: Agatha's Feather Bed: Not Just Another Wild Goose Story; TreeMan (for which she was named 1993's Georgia Author of the Year for Juvenile Literature); The Library Dragon (winner of the 1997 Flicker Tale Children's Book Award, an Honor Book for the 1997-1998 Florida Reading Association Children's Book Award, and nominated for the 1999-2000 Young Hoosier Book Award given by the Association of Indiana Media Educators); The Last Dance; The Secret of Old Zeb (winner of an Award of Merit from the Southeastern Library Association); and The Yellow Star. Deedy lives in Atlanta with her three daughters.

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