Meet Nel Ward!
Nel is so amazing, I asked her to write her own profile, and here it is! Nel, tell us about yourself…
Currently I chair the News Committee, responsible for the new GLBTRT blog, GLBT News (http://www.glbtrt.ala.org/news/). Last month, I finished my terms on Over the Rainbow, and when I leave the News Committee in July, I will officially become the chair of the newly created Reviews Committee. During the next four months, the committee will have an opportunity to revamp its blog (http://www.glbtrt.ala.org/reviews/) and add columns, interviews, and reviews of media other than books. During the last seven years I co-founded two round table committees, The Rainbow Project and Over the Rainbow (OTR). My work with GLBTRT goes back two decades when I was SRRT’s treasurer and GLBTRT was still a SRRT task force.
My paid professional work ended almost 22 years ago when I retired from the Phoenix (AZ) High School District as a librarian. At that time, I had taught in the classroom for 20 years and worked with thousands of students in the school library for the next 11 years. My participation in ALA began in the mid 1980s when I was a member of YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults and lucky enough to work with the extraordinary Mike Printz when he was chair.
Since then my professional work has included being director of a local preview center for youth books. The organization meets monthly and publishes reviews for many of the thousands of books that publishers generously send us. After “retirement,” I continued my participation with YALSA as well as GLBTRT, chairing Quick Picks when it changed from Reluctant Readers, selecting books for Popular Paperbacks, and helping to determine an award book as a member of the Printz committee.
In my personal life, I love to walk the beach near my home on the coast of Oregon. My partner wanders along, looking for rocks and fossils, and I throw a ball for our standard poodle. I’m a compulsive reader, particularly of mysteries after I finished reading for OTR and the reviews of youth books. Although I’m no longer on OTR, I still read many of the LGBT books submitted for reviews.
My passion is politics—as anyone who knows me could tell you. Almost three years ago, I found a venue through the Internet, and I now write an almost-daily blog (www.nelsnewday.wordpress.com) about whatever irritates or pleases me (usually the former!) on a particular day.
Professionally, I’m most proud of my three-year stint chairing the Booklist Advisory Committee, professionals who evaluate the journal and make recommendations to the staff of ALA’s Booklist. It was at an exciting time when Book Links became a supplement, and Booklist editor Bill Ott is a joy to work with. Helping to birth the Rainbow Project has also been tremendously rewarding, especially when I see it sometimes cited as the first source in LGBT books for youth. And recently, receiving GLBTRT’s Boa Award has been extremely important to me because I value my work with the round table.
Personally, I am probably most proud of being able to legally marry my wonderful partner of almost 45 years. She grew up in a time when almost no one dreamed of such freedom for LGBT people, and the ceremony gave both us great joy. (You’ll see her grinning on the left side of our photograph!) We have had wonderful adventures together, beginning with writing a media textbook for a new curriculum over 40 years ago. Much to our amazement, it sold around the world. After we worked with a friend to write the butch cook book, she started writing lesbian novels that I edit.
My primary goal is to stay healthy and continue reading and writing. Professionally, I would like to promote LGBT materials and information as well encourage others to be involved through continuing and enhancing GLBTRT goals. In ALA, I have found that serendipity leads me in wonderful directions, for example when a group of us developed the Bloomers Project, a SRRT/WTF committee that annually selects feminist books for youth. I cannot wait to see what the future brings me!
My favorite animal is probably the cat family. I admire the way that they follow their own desires and act as their own boss. They are also absolutely gorgeous to watch, whether they are moving or still. For dinner, I would first invite Rachel Maddow: she is my hero. With her, I would ask Eleanor Roosevelt, who has done so much for humanity; Shirley Chisholm, who helped break the color barrier through her civil rights work; and Indira Gandhi, who influenced government both within and without. My fifth guest would be Sappho because I really want to know what happened 2,500 years ago on the Isle of Lesbos.
And Tess, many thanks for introducing all the people in your profiles to the GLBTRT membership!