Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 400 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award−winning short works "Sister Emily's Lightship" and "Lost Girls", Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite, and the Commander Toad series. She has collaborated on works with all three of her children, most extensively with Adam Stemple. Yolen published her 400th book in early 2021, Bear Outside.

Early life

Jane Hyatt Yolen was born on February 11, 1939, at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. She is the first child of Isabell Berlin Yolen, a psychiatric social worker who became a full-time mother and homemaker upon Yolen's birth, and Will Hyatt Yolen, a journalist who wrote columns at the time for New York newspapers. Her father, William (Wolf), was born in Katerynoslav (present day Dnipro, Ukraine) into the family of Samson and Mina Iolin, who were engaged in the manufacture of kerosene lamps. In 1914, the Iolin family emigrated to the United States in full, later settling in New Haven.

Both of Yolen's parents were Jewish, and raised her secular-Jewish. Isabell also did volunteer work, and wrote short stories in her spare time. However, she was not able to sell them. Because the Hyatts, the family of Yolen's grandmother, Mina Hyatt Yolen, only had girls, a number of the children of Yolen's generation were given their last name as a middle name in order to perpetuate it. She also wrote lyrics for the song "Robin's Complaint," recorded on the 1994 album Antler Dance by Stemple's band Boiled in Lead.

As of 2021, Yolen has written more than 400 books.

  • 1989 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Older Readers (for The Devil's Arithmetic)
  • 1999 Nebula Award for Novelette (for "Lost Girls")
  • 2006 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book (for Pay the Piper)
  • 2009 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement at the 2010 World Fantasy Convention. A panel of judges selects about two people annually.
  • 2018 World Fantasy Award for Anthology/Collection (for The Emerald Circus)

Nominations

  • 1984 World Fantasy Award for Anthology/Collection (for Tales of Wonder)
  • 2021 Sydney Taylor Book Award Picture Book Honor (for Miriam at the River, illustrated by Khoa Le)