Joyce Hansen

Joyce Viola Hansen (born October 18, 1942) is an American writer and retired schoolteacher. She has earned recognition for her books for children and youth, particularly her historical fiction and non-fiction works about African-American history.

Life Hansen was born in the Bronx, New York City on October 18, 1942. Her parents were Austin Victor, a photographer, and Lilian Dancy Hansen. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Pace University (1972) and a master's degree in English from New York University (1978). After retirement she lived with her husband in South Carolina and wrote. In 2019, Hansen attended a Fall Literary Festival at the University of South Carolina.

Fiction Hansen has said that her writing is motivated by a drive to increase interest in reading among her students and others who are underrepresented in children's literature. Her first novel was The Gift-Giver (1980), about a group of friends living in the Bronx.

In addition to novels set in contemporary urban settings, Hansen has written several works of historical fiction about African-American history, including books about slavery and the Civil War. Which Way Freedom? (1986), her first work of historical fiction, was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. The book, about a Black teenager serving with the Union Army in the Civil War,

Her novels The Captive (1994) and I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl (part of the Dear America series of books) were also named Coretta Scott King Honor Books.

With Gary McGowan, Hansen wrote Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground (1998). The book, which was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, detailed the 1991 discovery and excavation of a burial ground for slaves and free blacks in New York City. Also with McGowan, Hansen wrote Freedom Roads (2003), a non-fiction account of the Underground Railroad, which Kirkus called "well-written, well-documented, imaginatively arranged".

Hansen's 2004 book, African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women, profiles six prominent women, including Hatshepsut, Amina, and Elizabeth of Toro. A New York Times review called the book "eticulously researched" and "rich with detail, drama and intrigue".

Selected works

Fiction

The Gift-Giver (1980) Home Boy (1982) Yellow Bird and Me (1986) Which Way Freedom? (1986) Out From this Place (1988) The Captive (1994) I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl (Dear America series, 1997, 2011) The Heart Calls Home (1999) One True Friend (2001) Home is with Our Family (2010)

Non-fiction

Between Two Fires: Black Soldiers in the Civil War (1993) Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground (with Gary McGowan, 1998) Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made A Difference (1998) Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad (with Gary McGowan, 2003) African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women (illustrated by Laurie McGaw, 2004)