The Associates of the Boston Public Library is pleased to announce the selection of its fourth Children's Writer-in-Residence Fellowship winner for the year 2007-2008. The award goes to Sheryl DePaolo of Newton, Massachusetts.

The Associates would like to thank all applicants for the 2007-2008 year for their efforts and interest in this position and to please accept apologies that each applicant can’t receive an individual note.

After graduating from The Hartford Art School with a BFA in Ceramics, Sheryl moved to Los Angeles where she worked for nearly a decade in film and television as a costumer. She returned to the East Coast and earned an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons College. In her own words, Sheryl is “very grateful for the opportunity that the BPL has given me.”

Sheryl’s proposed work is entitled “Child Star,” which will be a young adult novel about Sofia, a 14-year-old, who returns to her small Connecticut town after a brief career in a TV sitcom. Sofia must now readjust to small town life, her friends and her school after a brush with the fast-paced lifestyle of Hollywood. Through “Child Star,” Sheryl is excited about sharing some of her Hollywood experiences with a young adult audience. She presently resides in Newton, Massachusetts and is working at The Children's Bookshop in Brookline Village.

The residency at the BPL will start in September of 2007 and the Associates will welcome the winner with a reception in early fall. Created to provide an emerging children's writer with the financial support and privacy needed to complete one literary work within a nine-month period, the fellowship will provide Ms. DePaolo with a "room of her own" in the central Library, plus a $20,000 stipend.

"The Children's Writer-in-Residence Fellowship is cause for celebration for several reasons," noted Associates Chair Vivian Spiro. "First, it will provide an exciting new literary talent with the support and public exposure necessary for success; and second, it marks a promising new stage in the evolution of the Associates of the Boston Public Library as an organization. Through the Children's Writer-in-Residence Program, the Associates will visibly further its mission of supporting the Boston Public Library and promoting the importance of writers, books and reading in our culture." Ms. Spiro added that to the best of her knowledge, the Associates' stipend is one of the largest of its kind offered in the U.S. The fellowship is funded by an anonymous gift.

The Associates of the Boston Public Library is a community based, non-profit group dedicated to expanding the role of the Boston Public Library in the intellectual life of the city. Every year, The Associates presents a series of public programs promoting awareness of the Boston Public Library's collections and appreciation of writers, writing and books. These include Literary Lights, an annual black tie dinner honoring twelve outstanding New England authors; Literary Lights for Children, a program at which four distinguished children's authors tell Boston schoolchildren why and how they became writers; a hundred year retroactive National Book Award competition, featuring a spirited debate by three former Literary Lights; and readings, musical performances and receptions designed to enhance public awareness of the Library's holdings. The organization also oversees the David McCullough Conservation Fund, an independent fund dedicated to restoring and preserving the Library's many historic and artistic treasures.

To see prior recipients, please click here.

For further information about the Children's Writer-in-Residence Program or about the Associates, please contact the Associates’ Office at 617.536.3886 or Associates@BPL.org.