Susan Marie Swanson was born in the small town near Chicago called Hinsdale, on May 9, 1955. In this wonderful little town equipped with a great library, bookstore, and coffee shop Swanson fell in love with literature and writing. Her first published work appeared in her local newspaper when she was ten years old; it was a poem about snowflakes. During her teenage years, her family moved to Minnesota, in her new hometown, she knew that her love for writing was engraved into her life and would exist forever. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and Poetry from St. Olaf College, her Masters of Fine Arts in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her teaching credential from Augsburg College. She is currently married with two sons and residing in St. Paul, MN where she is an instructor at the Friends School of Minnesota.
Susan Marie Swanson has written many poems and picture books. One of her poems, “Trouble, Fly” is featured in the book This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort, which was written in response to the 9/11 tragedy, but can be used in response to any tragedy as the poems discuss the many different feelings and emotions associated with tragedy. Her book Getting Used to the Dark: 26 Night Poems relates well to children and all the different emotions the come out only in the dark. She has been honored many poetry fellowships as well as countless other awards for her books and poems. Her recent picture book, The House in the Night, won the Caldecott Medal Award along with many other awards for the text and pictures within this great bedtime story. To be like the Sun won a few awards as well, like the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book Designation. Her other major works include Letter to the Lake, The First Thing My Mama Told Me¸ and Northern Lights.
While selecting the author, illustrator, or poet to study for our AIP projects, I decided to pick a poet since I did not recognize most of the poets’ names nor have I done much with poetry in the past. Little did I know that Susan Marie Swanson resides in the same state as I do, the state of Minnesota. From the happiness described of a summer spent on the lake in Letter to the Lake, to the growing of a flower garden and the effect of the four seasons depicted in To Be Like the Sun, Swanson describes what it is like to live in Minnesota. I enjoyed being able to relate to her stories, as I have lived them myself and can share the experiences that she describes within her text. Since I want to return to Minnesota after college to pursue my teaching career, I have full intentions on reading Swanson’s stories to my students, so that they too will be able to relate to the books. Also, because Swanson wrote these stories based on her experiences of living with her family in Minnesota, I think that makes her stories stronger as well because she is putting herself into the stories, instead of drawing from nothing but imagination. Anytime someone’s emotions are put into something, the results are always better than if no emotion was put into them. Lastly, I thought it was great that Swanson works for COMPAS, an organization that brings art to people who usually would never get the opportunity to make art. Working for an organization such as COMPAS makes me admire Swanson for her desire to help others and share her talent. I enjoyed getting to know Susan Marie Swanson and reading her books and want others to do the same.
The following websites will help you to learn about Susan Marie Swanson as well.
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