Sylvia Louise Engdahl (born November 24, 1933) is an American writer, known best for

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to ...

Enchantress from the Stars ''Enchantress from the Stars'' is a young adult science fiction novel by Sylvia Engdahl published by Atheneum Books in 1970. It was her first book and is set in the Anthropology Service universe (1970 to 1981). Its sequel ''The Far Side of Evil' ...

'', published by Atheneum Books in 1970, was the 1971 Newbery Honor Book (see

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

), was a Geffen Award finalist in 2008, Best Translated YA Book, and she won the

Phoenix Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the bo ...

for that work twenty years later.

Biography

Engdahl was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The

Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFD ...

lists 11 books by Engdahl that were published from 1970 to 1981, including two anthologies she edited and three nonfiction books. Her first six books were all published by

Atheneum Books Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since its acquisition of Macmillan in 1994 and it created Ath ...

. From 1985 to 1995 she taught graduate courses for

Connected Education Connected Education - also known as Connect Ed - was a pioneering online education organization founded and administered by Paul Levinson and Tina Vozick. Operating from 1985 to 1997, Connect Ed offered the M.A. degrees in Media Studies (through ...

, a pioneer in

online education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually i ...

. She lives in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. In August 2007, Engdahl published a new adult science fiction/

visionary fiction Visionary fiction is a fiction genre with New Age or mind, body, spirit themes and perspectives, including consciousness expansion, spirituality, mysticism, and parapsychology. It is sometimes classed as a subtype of speculative fiction. Exam ...

novel, ''Stewards of the Flame: The Hidden Flame Book 1'', which she followed with ''Promise of the Flame: The Hidden Flame Book 2'' (September 2009). She followed this duopoly with a trilogy that can be read separately, ''Defender of the Flame: The Rising Flame Book 1'' (April 2013), ''Herald of the Flame: The Rising Flame Book 2'' (October 2014), and her most recent novel, ''Envoy of the Flame: The Rising Flame Book 3'' (June 2021).

Selected works

Among 73

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

Online Catalog records of books created by Engdahl through 2014 (which may include multiple editions of some), all but the first 16 are nonfiction anthologies she edited while working as a freelance editor.

Science fiction novels

Engdahl wrote six science fiction novels published from 1970 to 1981 by Atheneum, all of which have been republished in the 21st century. Her latest novels, a duology published in 2007 and 2009 and a trilogy published in 2013, 2014, and 2021 respectively, are adult science fiction, not YA. * ''

'' (1970), illustrated by Rodney Shackell * ''Journey Between Worlds'' (1970), illustrated by James and Ruth McCrea – updated 2006 * ''The Far Side of Evil'' (1971), illustrated by