About
V.T. BIDANIA - CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR
- SHORT BIO -
V.T. Bidania was born in Laos and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota.
She has an MFA in creative writing from The New School and is a McKnight Artist Fellow. She is the author of the ASTRID AND APOLLO series, the first children's book series to star Hmong American characters, and A YEAR WITHOUT A HOME, a fictionalized memoir in verse about her family's escape from Laos at the end of the Vietnam War.
- LONGER BIO -
V.T. Bidania was born in Laos and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, where her family resettled as Hmong refugees.
After graduating with a degree in journalism from St. Catherine University, she moved to New York City to attend NYU's Summer Publishing Institute. She then studied children's fiction at The New School and received an MFA in creative writing.
While working for different children's book publishers, she began taking courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology and soon became a graphic artist designing art for children's apparel.
Eventually, she returned to St. Paul and worked in K-5 schools assisting teachers in ELL classes, preschool classes, and a school media center. It was during this time that she met many of the fantastic Hmong students who inspired the characters in her chapter book, Astrid and Apollo.
Some of her writing awards include the Mirrors & Windows Fellowship from the Loft Literary Center and the McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers. Her chapter book series, ASTRID AND APOLLO, is the first children's book series to feature Hmong American characters. Her middle grade novel in verse, a fictionalized memoir about her family's escape from Laos after the Vietnam War, is titled
A YEAR WITHOUT A HOME and will be published in summer 2025.
She now lives outside of the Twin Cities with her family and her sweet Morkie.
V.T. Bidania is represented by Laurel Symonds at KT Literary.