Barbara Belford

Barbara Belford recently moved from the western suburbs to a condo in the Chicago loop to spend more time on writing. In her career in education in Aurora, Illinois she’s been a classroom teacher, a reading teacher, a literacy coach, and a reading consultant. She’s incurably addicted to working with students, now volunteering in a CPS school in Bronzeville and consulting in Waukegan public schools while working on her middle grade novels. She has published four books: Canned and Crushed, The Gift, Crossing the Line (Christopher Award Winner, 2017), and Another D for DeeDee (Kirkus starred review). Her goal is to write books the students she’s taught will want to read, and one of her greatest joys was reading the ARC of Canned and Crushed to her former students who had promised they’d read a book if she wrote one. She earned her BA in English and Education, and her MA in Bilingual Literacy with endorsements in ESL and Reading. She’s a member of Chicago Writers Association, SCWBI, and ACWF. She reads all genres of middle grade and children’s picture books and realistic or historical YA. bibibelford.com