Christina Soontornvat ( th, คริสติน่า สุนทรวัฒน์; born 1980) is an American author, educator, and

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

. She won two

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People *Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver *David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot *Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...

s in 2021 for the children's books '' A Wish in the Dark'' and '' All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team'' (fiction and nonfiction, respectively), and another Newbery Honor in 2023 for the middle grade novel "The Last Mapmaker".

Early life and education

Soontornvat was born in 1980, a daughter of Amnaj Soontornvat, a businessowner from Thailand and granddaughter of Thai broadcasting executive Saengchai Sunthornwat. She attended Weatherford High School in

Weatherford, Texas Weatherford ( ) is a city and the county seat of Parker County, Texas, United States. In 2020, its population was 30,854. Weatherford is named after Thomas J. Weatherford, a State senator and advocate for Texas’ secession to the Confederate S ...

, graduating in 1998. She earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

from Trinity University in 2002, and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in science education from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 2007.

Career

Prior to her literary career, Soontornvat worked at a science museum. In 2020, Soontornvat wrote the children's books '' A Wish in the Dark'' and '' All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team''. In an interview, she stated that ''All Thirteen'', which describes the 2018

Tham Luang cave rescue In June and July 2018, a junior association football team and their assistant coach were rescued from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. Twelve members of the team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old ass ...

, was told "from the Thai perspective as much as possible, and to let people know about Thailand". Both books were awarded a

in 2021, making Soontornvat the third author to receive two Newbery awards in the same year (after

Meindert DeJong Meindert De Jong, sometimes spelled de Jong, DeJong or Dejong (4 March 1906 – 16 July 1991) was a Dutch-born American writer of children's books. He won the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1962 for his contributions as a chi ...

in 1954 and

E. L. Konigsburg Elaine Lobl Konigsburg (February 10, 1930 – April 19, 2013) was an American writer and illustrator of children's literature, children's books and young adult fiction. She is one of six writers to win two Newbery Medals, the venerable American ...

in 1968). She is the first author to win two Newbery awards in the same year for both fiction (''A Wish in the Dark'') and nonfiction (''All Thirteen''). Soontornvat, along with fellow writers

Ellen Oh Ellen Oh (née Ha) is a Korean-American author, and founding member and CEO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She is the award winning author of young adult and middle grade novels including the Prophecy trilogy, also known as the Dragon Ki ...

and Melanie Conklin, organized the Everywhere Book Fest, which took place May 1–2, 2020. It was created in response to book festival cancellations due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, including the

Tucson Festival of Books The Tucson Festival of Books is a free annual book fair held in Tucson, Arizona during the second weekend in March. It was established in 2009 by Bill Viner, Frank Farias, John M. Humenik, Bruce Beach, and Brenda Viner. History The first annual ...

, where Soontornvat and Oh had been scheduled to speak on a panel. The event included live and pre-recorded segments featuring authors of children's and young adult books, and was attended by over 43,000 online viewers.

Personal life

Soontornvat lives in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

with her husband. They have two children.

Publications

''Changelings'' series

# ''The Changelings'' (September 6, 2016) # ''In a Dark Land: A Changelings Story'' (October 1, 2017)

''Diary of an Ice Princess'' series

# ''Snow Place Like Home'' (June 25, 2019) # ''Frost Friends Forever'' (June 25, 2019) # ''On Thin Ice'' (October 1, 2019) # ''The Big Freeze'' (March 3, 2020) # ''Slush Puppy Love'' (June 2, 2020) # ''Icing on the Snowflake'' (September 15, 2020)

Other books

* ''The Blunders: A Counting Catastrophe!'' (February 11, 2020) * '' A Wish in the Dark'' (March 24, 2020) * ''Simon at the Art Museum'' (June 9, 2020) * '' All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team'' (October 13, 2020) * ''The Ramble Shamble Children'' (March 9, 2021) * ''The Last Mapmaker'' (April 12, 2022)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soontornvat, Christina 1980 births 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American writers American children's writers American women children's writers American writers of Asian descent American people of Thai descent Living people Newbery Honor winners Trinity University (Texas) alumni People from Weatherford, Texas Kirkus Prize winners