Photo of Sylvia Engdahl

About Sylvia Engdahl

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of eleven science fiction novels, six of which were originally published as Young Adult novels but are also enjoyed by adults. The one for which she is best known, Enchantress from the Stars. can be enjoyed by younger readers than the others and was a 1971 Newbery Honor book, winner of the 1990 Phoenix Award of the Children's Literature Association, and a finalist for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Rediscovery category. Her five latest novels, a duology and a trilogy, are for adults. She has also published an updated and expanded edition of her nonfiction book The Planet-Girded Suns, now subtitled Our Forebears' Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets, and three ebooks of collected essays. She is a strong advocate of space colonization and in addition to a widely-read space section of her website she created the site www.spacequotes.com (now located at www.sylviaengdahl.com/spacequotes/), which contains quotations about why humankind must expand into space. Now retired, she lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Read a FAQ page about Sylvia Engdahl and her books, including a statement of why she writes about the future despite choosing not to conform to the tastes of typical science fiction readers.


Read Sylvia Engdahl's autobiograhy.


New in 2023; Read A Glimpse Into a Life Series: Sylvia Engdahl, a long, very detailed written interview about Sylvia Engdahl's background and her view of life.


Newbery Honor seal

Awards and Honors


Junior Literary Guild selection (Enchantress from the Stars), 1970

ALA Notable Children's Books (Enchantress from the Stars), 1970

Horn Book Fanfare (Enchantress from the Stars), 1971

Newbery Honor Book (Enchantress from the Stars), 1971

Christopher Award (This Star Shall Abide), 1973

Phoenix Award (Enchantress from the Stars), 1990

New York Public Library 100 Favorite Children's Books (Enchantress from the Stars), 1998

Teen People Book Club selection (Enchantress from the Stars),2001

phoenix medal

Book Sense Book of the Year finalist, Rediscovery category (Enchantress from the Stars ), 2002

ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (Enchantress from the Stars), 2004

Geffen Award finalist, Best Translated YA Book (Enchantress from the Stars), 2008

Independent Publishers (IPPY) Book Award, bronze (Stewards of the Flame), 2008


Interviews, Guest Posts and Profiles Still Online


Christopher medal

Lament of Hope. "A Glimpse Into a Life Series: Sylvia Engdahl," November 22, 2023

Awesome Gang, October 25, 015

Book Goodies, November 18, 2014

Mythical Books, September 26, 2014

Pets and Their Authors, Dec. 7, 2009

As the Pages Turn, October 27, 2009

The Plot (Character Interview), October 20, 2009

The Writer's Life, October 13, 2009

The Story Behind the Book, October 12, 2009

Lifeboat Foundation, 2006

Trumpet Book Club, Fall 2001

SFFWorld, April 16, 2001 IPPY Award

Social Networking Pages


Amazon
Author Page


Facebook

Twitter
(inactive)
Goodreads

LinkedIn Pinterest



Bibliography of Sylvia Engdahl's Published Writing


Note: Ad Stellae Books is her personal imprint, not a publishing company.


BOOKS


Enchantress from the Stars (YA novel)

Atheneum, 1970 (hc)

Junior Literary Guild, 1970 (book club hc)

Aladdin, 1972 (pb)

Gollancz, 1974 (UK hc)

Collier, 1989 (pb)

Troll, 1993 (book club pb)

Walker, 2001 (hc, pdf, pdb)

Scholastic, 2002 (book club pb)

Firebird, 2003 (pb)

Recorded Books, 2006 (audio)

Bloomsbury, 2018 (minor revisions - pb, epub, mobi)

Translations:

Hayakawa, 1981 (Japanese pb)

Arena, 2002 (German hc)

Diagonal del Grupo 62, 2002 (Spanish hc)

Editorial Empuries, 2002 (Catalan hc)

Cite, 2003 (Chinese pb)

Circulo de Leitores. 2003 (Portuguese hc)

Tammi 2003 (Finnish hc)

CBT, 2006 (German pb)

Yanshuf, 2007 (Hebrew hc)

BIR, 2008 (Korean pb)


Journey Between Worlds (YA novel)

Atheneum, 1970, (hc)

Putnam, 2006 (updated - hc)

SRA/McGraw Hill, 2008 (book club pb)

Firebird, 2009 (epub, mobi)

Ad Stellae, 2015 (epub, mobi, pdf)

Ad Stellae, 2018 (pb)


The Far Side of Evil (YA novel)

Atheneum, 1971 (hc)

Aladdin, 1973 (pb)

Gollancz, 1975 (UK hc)

Walker, 2003 (updated - hc)

Firebird, 2005 (pb)

Ad Stellae, 2011 (epub, mobi, pdf)

Ad Stellae, 2018 (pb)


This Star Shall Abide (YA novel, Children of the Star, bk 1)

Atheneum, 1972 (hc)

Aladdin, 1979 (pb)

Gollancz, 1973 (UK hc, as Heritage of the Star)

Puffin, 1976 (UK pb, as Heritage of the Star)

Meisha Merlin, 2000 (in Children of the Star)

Ad Stellae, 2008 (mobi)

Ad Stellae, 2010 (pb, epub, pdf)

ACX, 2013 (audio)


Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains (YA novel, Children of the Star, bk 2)

Atheneum, 1973 (hc)

Meisha Merlin, 2000 (in Children of the Star)

Ad Stellae, 2008 (mobi)

Ad Stellae, 2010 (epub, pdf)


The Doors of the Universe (YA novel, Children of the Star, bk 3)

Atheneum, 1981 (hc)

Meisha Merlin, 2000 (in Children of the Star)

Ad Stellae, 2008 (mobi)

Ad Stellae, 2010 (epub, pdf)


Children of the Star (Omnibus edition of the trilogy issued as adult, minor revisions)

Meisha Merlin, 2000 (hc and pb)

Ad Stellae, 2012 (pb, mobi)

Ad Stellae, 2013 (epub, pdf)


Stewards of the Flame (Adult novel, The Founders of Maclairn, bk 1)

Ad Stellae, 2007 (pb)

Ad Stellae, 2008 (mobi)

As Stellaem 2010 (epub, pdf)


Promise of the Flame (Adult novel, The Founders of Maclairn, bk 2)

Ad Stellae, 2009 (pb, mobi)

As Stellae, 2010 (epub, pdf)


Defender of the Flame (Adult novel, The Captain of Estel, bk 1)

Ad Stellae, 2013 (pb, epub, mobi, pdf)


Herald of the Flame (Adult novel, The Captain of Estel, bk 2)

Ad Stellae, 2014 (pb, epub, mobi, pdf)


Envoy of the Flame (Adult novel, The Captain of Estel, bk 3)

Ad Stellae, 2021, revised 2022 (pb, epub, mobi, pdf)


Anywhere, Anywhen: Stories of Tomorrow (YA anthology edited by Engdahl, most stories by other authors)

Atheneum, 1976 (hc)

Ad Stellae 2011 (expanded edition - epub, mobo, pdf)


The Planet-Girded Suns: Man's View of Other Solar Systems (Nonfiction - YA, later editions issued as adult)

Atheneum, 1974 (hc)

Ad Stellae, 2012 (updated, subtitled The History of Human Thought About Extrasolar Worlds - pb, epub, mobi, pdf)

Ad Stellae, 2016 (subtitled The Long History of Belief in Exoplanets)

Ad Stellae, 2022 (subtitled Our Forebears’ Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets)


Reflections on Enchantress from the Stars and Other Essays (Nonfiction)

Ad Stellae, 2019 (epub, mobi, pdf).


From This Green Earth: Essays on Looking Outward (Nonfiction)

Ad Stellae, 2019 (epub, mobi, pdf)


The Future of Being Human and Other Essays (Nonfiction)

Ad Stellae, 2020 (epub, mobi, pdf)


Selected Essays on Enchantress from the Stars and More (Nonfiction, excerpted from the ebook essay collections)

Ad Stellae, 2021 (pb)


The Hidden Flame (Onmibus of The Founders of Maclairn - old duology title, no longer available)

Ad Stellae, 2016 (pb, mobi)

Ad Stellae, 2017 (epub, pdf)


The Rising Flame (Omnibus of The Captain of Estel, - old trilogy title, no longer available)

Ad Stellae 2015, bks 1-2 (epub, mobi, pdf)

Ad Stellae, 2016, bks 1-2 (pb)

Ad Stellae, 2021, bks 1-2-3 (epub, mobi, pdf)


Reflections on the Future: Collected Essays (No longer available - superseded by the three current essay collections)

Ad Stellae, 2017 (epib, mobi, pdf)


Universe Ahead: Stories of the Future (YA anthology coedited with Rick Roberson, no longer available - two stories included in ebook edition of Anywhere, Anywhen)

Atheneum, 1975 (hc)


The Subnuclear Zoo: New Discoveries in High Energy Physics ( (YA nonfiction coauthored with Rick Roberson, no longer available)

Atheneum, 1977 (hc)


Tool for Tomorrow: New Knowledge About Genes (YA nonfiction coauthored with Rick Roberson, no longer available)

Atheneum, 1979 (hc)


Our World is Earth (Picture book, no longer available)

Atheneum, 1979 (hc)


SHORT STORIES


“The Beckoning Trail” (with Rick Roberson), in Universe Ahead, 1975; Anywhere, Anywhen (expanded edition), 2011; and as Prologue to Envoy of the Flame, 2021.


“Timescape” (with Mildred Butler), in Anywhere, Anywhen, 1976 and Anywhere, Anywhen (expanded edition), 2011.


“Tranquility” (written in 1957), in Anywhere, Anywhen (expanded edition), 2011.


SEPARATELY PUBLISHED ESSAYS


Starred essays are also in Reflections on Enchantress from the Stars and Other Essays, Ad Stellae, 2019.


“The Changing Role of Science Fiction in Children's Literature,” Horn Book, October 1971, pp. 449-455. Reprinted in Children and Literature, Virginia Haviland, ed., Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1973. *


“Why Write for Today's Teenagers,” Horn Book, June 1972, pp. 249-254. Reprinted in Crosscurrents of Criticism, Paul Heins, ed., The Horn Book, 1977. *


“Perspective on the Future: The Quest of Space Age Young People,” School Media Quarterly, Fall 1972, pp. 27-35. Reprinted in Only Connect: Readings on Children's Literature, S. Egoff, G. T. Stubbs & L. F. Ashley, eds., Oxford University Press, 1980. *


“Do Teenage Novels Fill a Need?,” English Journal, February 1975, pp. 48-52. Reprinted in Young Adult Literature in the Seventies, Jana Varlejs, ed., Scarecrow Press, 1978. *


“An Observer of Planet Earth,” in Something About the Author Autobiography Series, Vol. 5, Gale Publishing, 1988. pp. 89-110.


“The Mythic Role of Space Fiction,” in The Phoenix Award of the Children's Literature Association 1990-1994, Alethea Helbig and Agnes Perkins, eds., Scarecrow Press, 1996. Also in Work and Play in Children's Literature, Susan R. Gannon and Ruth Anne Thompson, eds., Children's Literature Association, 1991 and in Journal of Social and Biological Structures, Vol. 13 (1990), pp. 289-295. *


“The Evolutionary Significance of the Metanormal” (book review essay), Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, Vol. 16 (1993), pp. 503-513.


“Autobiography: Sylvia Louise Engdahl,” in Something About the Author, Vol. 122, Gale, 2001, pp. 35-54. Also in Contemporary Authors, Vol. 195, Gale, 2002, pp. 82-105. (An updated version of “An Observer of Planet Earth,”). *


“Space Race,” in Americans at War: Society, Culture and the Homefront, John P. Resch, ed., Vol. 4, Macmillan Reference, 2004, pp. 180-183.


“Confronting the Universe in the Twenty-First Century,” in The Planet-Girded Suns (updated edition), Ad Stellae Books, 2012; The Space Review, July 23, 2012 and in From This Green Earth: Essays on Looking Outward, Ad Stellae, 2019.


“Space Colonization, Faith, and Pascal’s Wager,” The Space Review, July 3, 2017 and in From This Green Earth: Essays on Looking Outward, Ad Stellae, 2019.


ANTHOLOGIES PRODUCED AS A FREELANCE EDITOR


The following anthologies of articles from various sources were textbooks sold to schools and libraries, which I compiled to the publisher's specifications. I wrote only their introductory essays. The aim was to offer an unbiased presentation of both sides of controversial issues, so they do not reveal my own views on these subjects.


Perspectives on Modern World History series

The John F. Kennedy Assassination. Greenhaven, 2010.

The Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Greenhaven, 2011.

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Greenhaven, 2011.

The Women's Liberation Movement. Greenhaven, 2012.

The Building of the Panama Canal. Greenhaven, 2012.

The Challenger Disaster. Greenhaven, 2013.

The Bolshevik Revolution. Greenhaven, 2013.


Issues on Trial series

Religious Liberty. Greenhaven, 2007.

Free Speech. Greenhaven, 2007.

Medical Rights. Greenhaven, 2008.

Right to Private Property. Greenhaven, 2009.

War on Drugs. Greenhaven, 2009.

Intellectual Property Rights. Greenhaven, 2009.

Cybercrime. Greenhaven, 2009.

Animal Welfare. Greenhaven, 2010.

Mental Health. Greenhaven, 2010.

War. Greenhaven, 2010.

Taxation. Greenhaven, 2010.

Welfare. Greenhaven, 2011.


Constitutional Amendments series

Amendment XIV: Equal Protection. Greenhaven, 2009.

Amendments XVIII and XXI: Prohibition and Repeal. Greenhaven, 2009.

Amendment XXVI: Lowering the Voting Age. Greenhaven, 2009.

Amendment XXV: Presidential Disability and Succession. Greenhaven, 2010.


Current Controversies series

Online Social Networking. Greenhaven, 2007.

Blogs.Greenhaven, 2008.

Domestic Wiretapping. Greenhaven, 2008.

Prescription Drugs. Greenhaven, 2008.

Vaccines. Greenhaven, 2008.

Assisted Suicide. Greenhaven, 2008.

Prisons. Greenhaven, 2009.

Forensic Technology. Greenhaven, 2010.

Espionage and Intelligence. Greenhaven, 2012.

Alternative Therapies. Greenhaven, 2012.

Internet Activism. Greenhaven, 2013.

Mobile Apps. Greenhaven, 2014.

Military Families. Greenhaven, 2014.

Prescription Drugs (revised). Greenhaven, 2014.


Contemporary Issues Companion series

Extraterrestrial Life. Greenhaven, 2005.

Genetic Engineering. Greenhaven, 2006.

Cloning. Greenhaven, 2006.

Euthanasia. Greenhaven, 2006.

Artificial Intelligence<, Greenhaven, 2007.


Perspectives on Diseases and Disorders series

Meningitis. Greenhaven, 2010.

Fibromyalgia. Greenhaven, 2010.

Seep Disorders. Greenhaven, 2011.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Greenhaven, 2011.

Lou Gehrig's Disease. Greenhaven, 2012.

Dissociative Disorders. Greenhaven, 2012.

Neurodegenerative Disorders. Greenhaven, 2013.

Dementia. Greenhaven, 2013.


Teen Rights and Freedoms series

Free Press. Greenhaven, 2011.

Electronic Devices. Greenhaven, 2012.

Driving. Greenhaven, 2014.


Opposing Viewpoints series

Obesity. Greenhaven, 2014.

Scientific Research. Greenhaven, 2015.

Energy Alternatives. Greenhaven, 2015.