Helen Hemphill
Encyclopedia
Helen Hemphill is an author in the Children's Literature genre.
, Texas
July 1, 1955. She received her BA from Midwestern State University
in Wichita Falls
in 1977. She also earned her MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College and MA in English Literature from Belmont University
in Nashville, Tennessee
.
Currently Ms. Hemphill is on the artist in residence roster for the Tennessee Arts Commission and is listed on the Southern Artists registry at the Southern Arts Federation
. She currently lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.
in Nashville during 2009-2010. She is now a trainer for The Six Traits Writing model and a teaching fellow for the National Writing Project
.
She has three books so far in her career as an author, all published by Front Street, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press. Her first book was Long Gone Daddy, published in 2006. Her next book, Runaround, was published in 2007. Her latest book, The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, was published in 2008. Hemphill has just finished a book of poetry and is currently working on a YA thriller.
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Runaround
The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones
Biography
Helen Delane Hemphill was born in BridgeportBridgeport, Texas
Bridgeport is a city in Wise County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,309 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, Bridgeport has a total area of 3.7 square miles , of which, 3.7 square miles of it is land and 0.04 square miles of it is...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
July 1, 1955. She received her BA from Midwestern State University
Midwestern State University
Midwestern State University is a public liberal arts college in Wichita Falls, Texas, and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges...
in Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010,...
in 1977. She also earned her MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College and MA in English Literature from Belmont University
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
Currently Ms. Hemphill is on the artist in residence roster for the Tennessee Arts Commission and is listed on the Southern Artists registry at the Southern Arts Federation
Southern Arts Federation
South Arts, formerly the Southern Arts Federation, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of six not-for-profit regional arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts...
. She currently lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.
Career
Helen Hemphill worked for 20 years in advertising and public relations prior to her second career in teaching. She taught 6th grade language arts for four years at Oak Hill School in Nashville and was a writer in residence for Franklin Road AcademyFranklin Road Academy
Franklin Road Academy is a Pre-K-12 private, non-denominational Christian school located in Oak Hill, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, with approximately 1,000 students. It was established in 1971. Its Head of School is Margaret W. Wade.-Beginnings:...
in Nashville during 2009-2010. She is now a trainer for The Six Traits Writing model and a teaching fellow for the National Writing Project
National Writing Project
The National Writing Project is a United States professional development network that serves teachers of writing at all grade levels, primary through university, and in all subjects...
.
She has three books so far in her career as an author, all published by Front Street, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press. Her first book was Long Gone Daddy, published in 2006. Her next book, Runaround, was published in 2007. Her latest book, The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, was published in 2008. Hemphill has just finished a book of poetry and is currently working on a YA thriller.
more info for next person
Published works
- Long Gone Daddy (2006): After a rift with his preacher father, 14-year-old narrator Harlan Q Stank apprentices with a local mortician. The boy meets his grandfather, Harlan O, for the first time in his employer's basement where the old man lies smiling on the cooling table, having suffered a fatal heart attack. After learning that an inheritance of $50,000 and an Eldorado convertible await, provided that the body arrives back in Sin City for burial, Harlan Q talks Paps into driving Grandfather back. The two embark on a road trip in the church station wagon with the casketed Grandfather inside. The pair pick up Warrior (aka Warren Ducklo), a handsome 19-year-old aspiring actor due to a flat tire. Warrior, who has Buddhist leanings, and Paps argue back and forth about their religious viewpoints, which serves to emphasize Harlan Q's struggle to be free of his father.
- Runaround (2007): Eleven-year-old Sassy learned everything she knows about love comes from her True Confessions magazines. handsome neighbor, Boon, she wants more details. Neither her widowed father, her old-maid housekeeper, nor her gorgeous sister, Lula, will give her more information on the subject. Lula, who has no problem in the boyfriends department, sets up Sassy for embarrassment, so Sassy vows revenge. She is going to win the handsome boy next door, Boon, and teach Lula a lesson while she is at it.
- The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones (2008): This novel was inspired by the famous "dime novels" about "Deadwood Dick" written by Edward L. Wheeler and the autobiography of African American cowboy Nat Love, whom Wheeler loosely based his stories on. Prometheus Jones runs afoul of two rednecks who refuse to let a black man, even a born freeman, keep a horse he won with a raffle ticket. As soon as things go south, Prometheus jumps on the horse with his cousin Omer and leaves town. The pair joins a Texas cattle drive heading for Deadwood, South Dakota. What follows is a classic, well-researched Wild West yarn set in the days of Manifest Destiny, Indian wars, and the gold rush.
Awards and nominations
Long Gone Daddy- 2007 Teddy Award - Writers' League of Texas
- Books for the Teen Age - New York Public Library
- Best of the Fest - Texas Book Festival - Austin Magazine
Runaround
- Top Ten Youth Romances - Booklist
- Starred Review - Booklist
- Starred Review - Library Media Connections
The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones
- VOYA 2009 Top Shelf Fiction - Middle School Readers
- Nominated - 2011 Beehive Book Awards - Children’s Literature Association of Utah
- Best Books of 2009 - Nebraska Library Association
- Virginia M. Law Award for the “most distinguished book for young adults on Texas History”
- Best Children’s Books - Bank State College
- Kansas State Reading Circle 2009 Recommended Reading List
- Nominated - 2009 SIBA Book AwardSIBA Book AwardSIBA Book Award is an American South literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance , first awarded in 1999. Nominated books must be southern in nature or by a southern author, have been published the previous year, and have been nominated by a SIBA-member bookstore or one of...
- Winter 2008-2009 Kid’s Indie Next List