Nancy Churnin

Nancy Churnin is the author of many picture books including South Asia Book Award winner Manjhi Moves a Mountain, National Jewish Book Award and Sydney Taylor Honor Dear Mr. Dickens, both Junior Library Guild selections, Martin and Anne, a popular book in civil rights and Holocaust curriculums, and The William Hoy Story, a Texas 2X2 honoree on many state lists, available in Spanish, Japanese and Korean. Her newest is A Teddy Bear for Emily – and President Roosevelt, Too, which she presented on May 11, 2026 for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota. Nancy’s main program, Be The Hero of Your Story, explains why she became a writer and what inspired her to write the story she is presenting. She reads the story and follows with historical context and projects that address how kids can use the kindness highlighted in her stories as inspiration to be heroes of kindness. She personalizes presentations by celebrating kind acts by the kids to whom she is presenting and finishes with teaching sign language. She also offers a Young Authors program, teaching kids to write their own stories. She adapts her programs for preschoolers, elementary school, and middle school, adults and families. Photo by Kim Leeson.