Gary Schmidt, Professor, English
616-526-6540
schg@calvin.edu
Office: CFAC 287
Weekly Schedule (Portal login required)
Educational Background
Professor Schmidt received his undergraduate degree in English from Gordon College in 1979. Thereafter he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving an MA in English in 1981 and then a PhD in medieval literature in 1985. He joined the faculty in the Calvin College English department in 1985.
Academic Interests/Areas of Specialization
- Children's and adolescent literature
- New England cultural history
- old and middle English language and literature
- creative writing
- writing for children and young adults
- Katherine Paterson
Recent Activities
Professor Schmidt is a prolific author of children's literature and young adult fiction. His most recent novel, Trouble, was published in 2008 by Clarion. He has received two John Newberry Honor Awards from the American Library Association, the first in 2005 for his novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and the second in 2008 for his novel Wednesday Wars. Professor Schimdt recently worked with Susan Felch to edit two volumes on religiously-themed fiction called The Emmaus Readers. Professor Schmidt, originally from New England, regularly leads the New England Saints interim course in January.
Hobbies
- vegetable gardening
- cutting and splitting wood
- collecting first editions of the Concord authors
Favorite Books
- The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi
- The Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens
- Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
- Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
Additional Information
Opening the Book that is Gary Schmidt, the Calvin College Spark
The Making of The Wednesday Wars, Minds in the Making
Schmidt Wins Second Newbery Honor, Calvin News
Old Style Writing, Mind in the Making
Calvin Prof's Book Wins Newbery Honor, Calvin News
Download a curriculum vitae (
192 Kb.)
