RESUME

• Winner of the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry
• Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Award for Children's Poetry
• Five-time winner of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Magazine Merit Award for Poetry (twice winner; once honor; twice letter of merit)
• "My Version of William Shakespeare's Sonnet Number Twelve" included in A KICK IN THE HEAD: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms edited by Paul B. Janeczko (Candlewick)
• "13 Ways of Looking At Peace" included in LINES IN THE SAND--New Writing on War and Peace, edited by Mary Hoffman and Rhiannon Lassiter (Frances Lincoln Publishers)
• "Period" included in PERIOD PIECES: Stories for Girls, edited by Erzsi Deak and Kristin Embry Litchman (HarperCollins)
• "Booktime" included in TAKE A WORD edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins (forthcoming)
• "In the Beauty Parlor" included in MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE!
• edited by  Betty Schwartz (Henry Holt and Company, Inc)
• "Crayon Dance" included in DIRTY LAUNDRY PILE edited by Paul B. Janeczko
• (HarperCollins)
• "Cactus" and “Santa Fe, New Mexico”, included in MY AMERICA,
• edited by  Lee Bennett Hopkins (Simon & Schuster)
• "Bongo" and “Rabbit”, included in I AM WRITING A POEM ABOUT...edited by Myra Cohn Livingston (McElderry Books)
• "Taking Violin at School", included in CALL DOWN THE MOON: POEMS OF
• MUSIC edited by Myra Cohn Livingston (McElderry Books); reprinted in CRICKET magazine and in GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING (Knopf)
• "Busssssss" and "Truck Quake", in ROLL ALONG: POEMS ON WHEELS, edited by Myra Cohn Livingston (McElderry Books)
• "Bath", included in POEMS FOR BROTHERS, POEMS FOR SISTERS, edited by Myra Cohn Livingston (Holiday House)
• "I've Never Seen A Real Owl", in IF THE OWL CALLS AGAIN, edited by
• Myra Cohn Livingston (McElderry Books)
• "When Mom Plays Just For Me", in POEMS FOR MOTHERS, edited by
• Myra Cohn Livingston (Holiday House)
• "Creation", in WEST/WORD, (UCLA literary magazine). Winter/Spring 1990; reprinted in GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING (Knopf)
• dozens of poems have been accepted by CRICKET Magazine—these are the ones that have been published so far:
• "Taking Violin" (4/95), "Duets for Two Violins" (8/97), "My Father Whistles the Hills" (6/98), “Sandpiper” (7/98), “Riddle” (9/98), "Symmetry" (6/99), “Those School Dances” (9/99), "On the Death of a Small Dog" (11/99), "Music Critic" (12/99), "Crayon Dance" (3/00), "Better Than A TV Weather Forecaster" (4/00),  "Float" (6/00),  "Frog in a Bucket" (8/00), "Cat Act" (1/01), "My Dad Lettered In Sports" (6/01),  "Pied Piper" (4/02),"Old Cat" (7/02), "Procrastination" (12/02),"My Sister's House" (6/03),"Dad in the Pool" (Spider Magazine 6/03),"The Guardian Tree, 2" (9/03),"Grand Central Market" (5/04),"Planet Elizabeth" (9/04),"Latkes" (12/04),"Night in the Mountains Near Los Angeles" (7/05),"The Glove Box" (2/06),"Cleaning Out" (4/06),

  Recording:

• IT’S NOT MY TURN TO LOOK FOR GRANDMA AND OTHER STORIES
  (CD and tape)
  •     includes five stories, seventeen poems and a fiddle tune~
  •     National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA)’s Gold Medal for Storytelling

Autobiography:

• 25 page autobiography published in volume 26 of the library reference series, SOMETHING ABOUT THE AUTHOR-Autobiography Series (Gale).

Teaching, Speaking:

• On the faculty of the, UCLA Extension Writer's Program since 1999
• On the faculty of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators International Conference since 2002
• Visiting Author at over 400 schools since 1986
• Panelist, "The Legacy of Myra Cohn Livingston" at CLA 2005
• Panelist, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) 2003
• Presenter, Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, 2003
• Poet, Presenter, Texas Poetry Festival 2003
• Presenter, West Coast Literacy Conference, 2003
• Presenter, California Association of Teachers of English Conference, 2003
• Visiting Author, Poznan British School, Poznan, Poland 2002
• Visiting Author, American Community School, Surrey, England 2001
• Visiting Author, International School, Trieste, Italy 2000
• Visiting Author, Lennin Bilingual School, Paris, France 1999
• Visiting Author, Department of Defense Schools in Germany, 1997, 1999, 2002
• Speaker, Library & Media Educators Conference, Germany, 1997
• Speaker, Young Authors' Conference, Germany, 1997
• Speaker, L. A. County Library Children's Services Training Session, 1997
• Speaker, San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival, November 1996
• Storyteller, PEN & the Natural History Museum's Summer Reading Celebration, 1996
• Teacher, USC Writing Project, February and July, 1996
• Speaker, California Reading Association's Annual Conferences, 1995, 1996, 1997
• Participant, California School Library Association State Conference, 1995
• Speaker & Teacher, Southwest Writers Conference -- Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1995
• Reader, Opening of the Redondo Beach Library, 1995
• Speaker, Orange County Reading Association's Annual Conference, 1994
• Speaker, Opening of the Los Angeles Central Library, 1993
• Speaker, California Media and Library Educators Association's Annual Conference, 1993
• Panelist, Authors Guild Conference, 1993
• Keynote Speaker, San Diego State University Teacher's Conference, 1992 and 1993
• Panelist, Society Of Children's Book Writers' Southern California Conference, 1992
• Learning Annex Teacher, "How To Write Children's Books", 1992
• Visiting Author sponsored by Dutton's Brentwood Bookstore, 1992
• MUSIC CENTER-On-Tour Lecturer in California schools 1989-1998
• Conference Presenter at KIDSCON, conference for gifted children, 1989 and 1990
• Teaching Assistant, Ruth Bornstein's Illustrating Children's Books class, UCLA, 1986

• Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Magazine Merit Awards Judge
• County of Los Angeles Public Library's Youth Services Citizen's Advisory Group
• L. A. Public Library's FOCAL 1996-2000 Book Awards Committee (three years)
• Children's Authors Network (CAN!), founding member
• The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
• The Author's Guild
• PEN
• The Southern California Children's Booksellers Association
• Association of Booksellers for Children
• The Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People
• The Santa Monica Traditional Folk Music Club (founder, 1978)
• Beach Cities Folk Music Club (founder, 2005)

Background:

     April graduated cum laude from the University of California at Davis with a BS in Human Development.  After turns as a farmer, governess for Joan Rivers’ daughter, teacher, and Fortune 500 corporate marketing manager, she began to publish the children’s stories and poetry she had been writing all her life.  She studied for over ten years with poet Myra Cohn Livingston; co-founded Positive Education; backpacked with her fiddle through Europe and the Middle East; married Gary Wayland; became a marketing manager at Pacific Bell; gave birth to her son.  She left the corporate world to write full time, and a few months later, TO RABBITTOWN was accepted for publication.  Today, April is a writer, a poet, a teacher.  Her workshops are guaranteed fun—she even plays the fiddle!  "Writing is my wings to many worlds," she says.  “How can I keep from sharing it?  Turn on your computer or pick up a pen and come along!”