Sylvia’s first published novel, Enchantress From The Stars (1970), is also her most successful. Enchantress was an Honor Book runner-up for the 1971 Newbery Award, widely recognized as the highest honor given in children’s literature, and one of the very few science-fiction works to ever be considered for that honor. Enchantress later won the Children’s Literature Association’s 1990 Phoenix Award, which is given each year “from the perspective of time” to a children’s book first published 20 years prior to the award’s presentation. It also was a finalist for the Book Sense Book of the Year in the Rediscovery category for 2002, the same year a little book called Seabiscuit won in the Adult Nonfiction category. Out of print for many years, Enchantress From The Stars was first reissued in 2001 by Walker as well as this year by Penguin Books, with beautiful all-new illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon. An excellent in-depth review is here.

Also reprinted this year is a revised version of another novel set in the Enchantress universe, The Far Side of Evil (1971). This is the only teen novel I’m aware of that depicts a heroic captured spy resisting torture to stop a nuclear war and allow development of space travel – a Cold War era storyline that still resonates today.

Sylvia’s trilogy about Noren, a independently minded young scientist who lives a life at odds with a planetary society based on religion, has recently been published in a single 700+ page volume as adult science fiction entitled Children of The Star by Meisha Merlin Publishing. This compilation includes This Star Shall Abide (1972), Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains (1973), and The Doors of the Universe (1981) – novels that made a very deep personal impression on me as a teen. This Star Shall Abide won a 1973 Christopher Award for “affirmation of the highest values of the human spirit.” Other Christopher Award winners in various media include the movies Gandhi and Schindler’s List, the PBS television documentary The Civil War, the pop song We Are The World, and the book Roots by Alex Haley.

Sylvia has also published quite a few scholarly articles including “Perspective on the Future: The Quest of Space Age Young People“, “The Mythic Role of Space Fiction” and “The Evolutionary Significance of the Metanormal“. She also published a non-fiction book detailing the history of belief in other planets called The Planet Girded Suns.

As you can see, there are awards for sci-fi worth winning besides the Hugo, and Sylvia Engdahl has joined very exclusive ranks in receiving those awards for her work. Time spent delving into her writings is time well spent, for they are truly works that have stood the test of time. Congratulations and thanks, Sylvia!