Born:
October  18, 1942
New York, New York,
United States Of America

Current Home:
 South Carolina,
United States Of America

Joyce Hansen

Biography

• PRINT
• EMAIL

I was born in New York City and lived there most of my life. I grew up in the Bronx and taught in the New York City public school for 22 years, until my retirement in 1995. Now I live in South Carolina with my husband and write full-time.

I write about what I know and what moves me deeply. My characters are greatly influenced by my childhood and my students. My love of books and writing came from my mother, who wanted to be a journalist. She grew up in a large family during the Depression, and though she was intelligent and literate, she couldn't finish high school because she had to work.

From my father, I learned how to tell stories. He entertained my brothers and me with stories about his boyhood in the West Indies and his experiences as a young man in the Harlem of the 1920s and ‘30s. He also helped me to see the beauty and poetry in the everyday scenes and “just plain folks” he captured in his photographs.

I have also been inspired by my students' creativity — the way they twist, bend, enliven, deconstruct, and sometimes even destroy language; their loves, hates, fears, feelings, and needs filter into my writing. I write for all children who need and can relate to things I write about — the importance of family, maintaining a sense of hope, and responsibility for oneself and other living things.

Those of us who write for young people have a special responsibility because the word is so strong. We must use our words to help our children acquire a richness of soul and spirit, so that perhaps one fine day we will learn to live with ourselves and one another in peace and harmony.

• Teacher Store
• 

  The Teacher Store
  	Women of Hope by Joyce Hansen Based on a series created for the AFL-CIO, these 12 short biographies of African American women provide just enough detail to inform readers and invite them to further explore each woman's distinguished life. A list of "additional extraordinary African-American women" is included. $6.99 Paperback Book | Grades 6-9

  
  Women of Hope
  Grades 6-9 $6.99
  
• Teacher Store
• 

  The Teacher Store

  Bury Me Not in a Land of Slaves by Joyce Hansen SET FEATURES:   o    Each foreword is written by a well-known author and sets the tone for the reader's experience in each book   o    Student guide at the end of each book   o    Each is original and unabridged   DESCRIPTION:   This title gives a compelling historical account of the turbulent and troubled period of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. Told fro $16.80 You save: 30% Library Binding | Grades 8-12

  
  Bury Me Not in a Land of Slaves
  Grades 8-12 $16.80