Salonen, Roxane Beauclair 1968-

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Salonen, Roxane Beauclair 1968-

Personal

Born September 2, 1968, Lovell, WY; daughter of Robert E. (an English teacher) and Jane E. (an elementary school teacher) Beauclair; married Troy J. Salonen (a music retail store owner), November 23, 1991; children: Christian, Olivia, Elizabeth, Adam, Nicholas. Education: Moorhead State University, B.S. (mass communications/music minor), 1991.

Addresses

Home—Fargo, ND. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Writer. Newspaper reporter in Washington for five years.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, National Federation of Press Women, North Dakota and Fargo-Moorhead Professional Communicators.

Awards, Honors

Flicker Tale Award in Upper-Grade-Level Book Category, 2006, and first-place award, North Dakota Professional Communications contest, and third-place award, National Federation of Press Women contest, all for P Is for Peace Garden.

Writings

First Salmon, illustrated by Jim Fowler, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2005.

P Is for Peace Garden: A North Dakota Alphabet, illustrated by Joanna Yardley, Sleeping Bear Press (Chelsea, MI), 2005.

Editor of The Selling Gap (nonfiction), 2007.

Sidelights

Roxane Beauclair Salonen told SATA: "In second grade, I presented my teacher with a hand-bound (stapled) book I'd both illustrated and written. After reading it, she told me, ‘You should write books someday.’ I never told anyone else what she'd said, but I kept her words close to my heart. About thirty years later, the dream she'd planted in my mind became a reality. But it took time. First, I had to finish my education. That took me

down the path of journalism. My first career job out of college was as a newspaper reporter, and that experience helped me hone my writing skills and gain confidence in myself as a writer. Eventually, my husband and I welcomed children into our fold, and reading to them got me thinking more seriously again about my dream of becoming an author. Because I love children and children's literature and had always been surrounded by both (in part through growing up with parents as teachers), it clicked: this is the kind of book writing I am meant to pursue.

"My goal as a writer is to help children see the continued value of picking up a book and reading; of finding those stories that bring them to laughter and/or tears. I want children to see themselves in story, and to take the energy from those words and apply them to their lives in a positive way. I want them to know that books can change their lives. I want them to know that every good writer I know is also a voracious reader. I want them to know that it's hard work but, ultimately, the work of a writer—or any creative pursuit—is extremely rewarding. I consider my work as a writer and author to be a gift, and I hope to share that gift with many people, big and little, whose paths I cross on this journey."