Walter Wangerin, Jr.:
Biographical Information

Master storyteller, Walter Wangerin, Jr., has been captivating both reading and listening audiences for two decades.

Pastor Wangerin is the author of more than 20 deeply spiritual and widely acclaimed books for children and adults. They include fiction, non-fiction and devotional material. He is writer-in-residence at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, and the featured columnist in The Lutheran magazine, a monthly publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Many have also discovered that Pastor Wangerin's storytelling gift transcends the printed page. He belongs in that tradition of oral storytellers who have captured the imaginations of people of all ages, through all the ages. His stories, reflections, meditations, and life experiences find God in common things and proclaim Christ in our lives. Since 1994 Pastor Wangerin has been joining story and Gospel as the Lutheran Vespers speaker, receiving acclaim from thousands of listeners.

Biographical Material

• Born February 13, 1944, in Portland, OR
• Reared, the eldest of 7 children, in various locations:
• Shelton, WA
• Chicago, IL
• Grand Forks, ND
• Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• Married, father of four children

Education

• Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis, MO; M.Div. 1976
• Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO
• Miami University, Oxford, OH; M.A. in English Literature, 1968 (All course work and requirements for Ph.D. completed except the dissertation)
• Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, IN; B.A. 1966
• Concordia Junior College, Milwaukee, WI; A.A. 1964

Present Professional Activities

• Professor and occupant of Emil & Elfriede Jochum Chair, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN (1991-present)
• Speaker, Lutheran Vespers (1994-present)
• Columnist (monthly), The Lutheran (circulation 800,000) )1988-present)
• Frequent lecturer at universities and professional conferences

Book Awards

• New York Times' Best Children's Book of the Year, The Book of the Dun Cow (1978)
• The American Book Award, The Book of the Dun Cow (1980)
• Campus Life's Editor's Choice, The Book of Sorrows (1985)
• Gold Medallion Book Award, Ragman and Other Cries of Faith (1985)
• Gold Medallion Book Award, Potter (1986)
• CSIA C.S. Lewis Award, Potter (1986)
• Association of Logos Bookstores Book Award for Best Fiction, The Book of Sorrows (1986)
• Virtue Magazine Book of the Year, As For Me and My House (1987)
• Gold Medallion Book Award, As For Me and My House (1988)
• Gold Medallion Book Award, Reliving the Passion (1993)
• Gold Medallion Book Award, The Book of God (1986)
• Association of Logos Bookstores Book Award for Best Book, The Book of God (1986)

Publications

NOVELS:

• The Book of God, Harper & Row, 1985
• The Book of the Dun Cow, Harper & Row, 1978
• The Crying for a Vision, Simon & Schuster, 1994
• The Book of God: The Bible as Novel, Zondervan, Lion UK and Zondervan, 1996

CHILDREN'S BOOKS:

• Elisabeth and the Water-Troll, Harper Collins Children's Books, 1991
• In the Beginning There Was No Sky, Thomas Nelson, 1986
• Potter, Augsburg-Fortress Publishers, 1994 (previously, David C. Cook, 1985)
• Thistle, Augsburg-Fortress Publishers, 1995 (previously Harper & Row, 1983)
• My First Book About Jesus, Checkerboard Press, 1983
• Six Arch Books, Concordia Publishing House, 1972-1976
• Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel, Augsburg, 1996
• In The Beginning There Was No Sky, Augsburg-Fortress, 1997
• The Book of God for Children, Zondervan, 1996 (previously The Bible for Children, Checkerboard Press, 1981)
• The Bedtime Rhyme, Augsburg-Fortress, 1998
• Mary's First Christmas, Zondervan, 1998

COLLECTIONS OF SHORT STORIES & ESSAYS:

• Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?, Zondervan, 1993
• The Manger is Empty, Harper & Row, 1989
• Miz Lil and the Chronicles of Grace, Harper & Row, 1988
• Ragman and Other Cries of Faith, Harper & Row, 1984

PRACTICAL THEOLOGY:

• Mourning into Dancing, Zondervan, 1992
• As For Me and My House: Crafting a Marriage to Last, Thomas Nelson, 1987
• The Orphan Passages, subtitled: The Drama of Faith, Harper & Row, 1986
• Whose Prayer, Zondervan, 1998

DEVOTIONAL:

• Measuring the Days, edited by Gail McGrew Eifrig, Harper San Francisco, 1993
• Reliving the Passion, Zondervan, 1992

POETRY:

• A Miniature Cathedral and Other Poems, Harper & Row, 1987
• With Paul Manz-Una Sancta: A Mass in Thanksgiving for the Unity of the Body of Christ; debuted and toured with the Seminex Chorus in 1986 and 1987

PERIODICALS:

• Book Reviews for The Washington Post Book World
• Book Reviews for The New York Times
• Articles in numerous periodicals
  
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