Traci Sorell
Traci Sorell is an Indigenous author of fiction and nonfiction works for children and teens. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Personal lifestyle
Sorell has spent much of her life living within the Cherokee Nation tribe's reservation in northeastern Oklahoma and currently resides with her family by Fort Gibson Lake. Her mother's family has lived in the area since 1838 when Cherokee people were removed from their homelands. She has a younger brother and sister.
As a child, Sorell learned about her ancestors from her grandmother, fishing with her family, and caring for animals and the land. She also enjoyed reading, singing, and performing in theater productions.
When Sorell was a teenager, she and her family moved to Southern California, and she became the first person in her family to graduate from college. Her mother, sister, and brother later received degrees as well.
Sorell's second language is Spanish, though she is learning the Cherokee language.
Education
Sorell majored in Native American Studies and minored in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1994. During her time at Berkeley, Sorell lived in Madrid and taught English and Spanish to children and adults.
In 1996, she received a Master of Arts from the University of Arizona, where she studied American Indian Studies with a concentration in Federal Indian Law & Policy.
Later, Sorell returned to school and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2001.
Career
Sorell began her career by helping Native Nations and their citizens by writing "legal codes, testimony for Congressional hearings, federal budget requests, grants and reports."
Since beginning her writing career, Sorell has continued to focus on incorporating culturally accurate books about Cherokee and other Indigenous people into the canon of literature for children and young adults.
Sorell was a Tulsa Artist Fellow in 2021 and 2022.
Awards and honors
Seven of Sorell's books are Junior Library Guild selections, including Clack, Clack! Smack!, Mascot, Indian No More, Powwow Day, We Are Still Here!, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, and Classified.
Publications
Ages Birth-3
- On Powwow Day, colors-numbers-sound words board book, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (2024)
- We Are Grateful: Seasons, four board book set in English only, illustrated by Frané Lessac (2024)
Ages 4+
- We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, illustrated by Frané Lessac (2018)
- At the Mountain's Base / ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎤᎾᎢ ᎡᎳᏗᏢ ᎣᏓᎸᎢ, ᎾᎢ, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (2019)
- Pow Wow Day, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (2022)
- Being Home, illustrated by Michaela Goade (2024)
- Clack, Clack! Smack! A Cherokee Stickball Story, illustrated by Joseph Erb (2024)
Ages 7+
- Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer, illustrated by Natasha Donovan (2021)
- We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know, illustrated by Frané Lessac (2021)
- Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series, illustrated by Arigon Starr (2023)
- Indigenous From A to Z, illustrated by Natasha Donovan (2026)
Middle grade
- Indian No More with Charlene Willing McManis (2019)
- She Persisted: Wilma Mankiller with Chelsea Clinton, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint (2022)
- Mascot with Charles Waters (2023)
- Riding the Trail: Cherokees Remember the Removal with Will Chavez (2026)
Anthology contributions
- Great Morning! Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (2018)
- Thanku: Poems of Gratitude, edited by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Marlena Myles (2019)
- No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley; illustrated by Bradley (2020)
- The Reluctant Storyteller with Art Coulson, illustrated by Carlin Bear Don't Walk and Roy Boney Jr. (2020)
- The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (2020)
- Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (2021)
- One Land, Many Nations: Volume 1 with Lee Francis IV, illustrated by Jesse Hummingbird (2021)
- Wonderful Women of the World, edited by Laurie Halse Anderson (2021)
- No World Too Big: Young People Fighting for Global Climate Change, edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley; illustrated by Bradley (2023)
- Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights, edited by Ashley Hope Pérez and illustrated by Debbie Fong (2025)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Traci Sorell". Tulsa Arts Fellowship. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "About". Traci Sorell. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Traci Sorell". AACRAO. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Powwow Day by Traci Sorell". Junior Library Guild.
- ↑ "We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Traci Sorell". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ Wittenstein, Barry (2019-04-17). "Awards: Reading the West; RBC Taylor Emerging Writer". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Presenting the 2019 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winners". The Horn Book. 2019-05-29. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ Holmes, Linda (2019-05-30). "Awards: Boston Globe-Horn Book". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Announcing the 2019 NCTE Children's Book Awards". NCTE. 2018-11-17. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ Morales, Macey (2019-01-28). "Joyce Sidman wins 2019 Sibert Medal". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "ALSC names 2019 Notable Children's Books". American Library Association. 2019-02-25. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Notable Children's Books: 2020". Booklist. March 15, 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- ↑ "2020 Notable Children's Books". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- 1 2 3 Aase, Lara (2020-01-27). "AILA announces 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Awards". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- 1 2 3 4 "American Indian Youth Literature Award". American Indian Library Association. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Rise: A Feminist Book Project: 2020". Booklist. March 15, 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
- ↑ "At the Mountain's Base | Awards & Grants". American Library Association. February 6, 2020. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
- ↑ "2020 Notable Children's Books". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "2020 Audie Awards®". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "2020 ALSC Book & Media Award Winners". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). 2020-01-27. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ Morales, Macey (2020-01-27). "Scholastic Audiobooks wins 2020 Odyssey Award for "Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction"". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- 1 2 "2022 Notable Children's Recordings Round 1 Discussion List" (PDF). American Library Association. June 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
- 1 2 3 Morales, Macey (2022-01-24). "American Library Association announces 2022 Youth Media Award winners". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ SLJ Staff (2021-11-21). "2022 Orbis Pictus and Charlotte Huck Awards Announced". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Current Book List". Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
- ↑ "Carter G. Woodson Book Award and Honor Winners". National Council for the Social Studies. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ↑ "American Library Association announces 2024 Youth Media Award winners" (PDF). American Library Association. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
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