Christina Soontornvat (Thai: คริสติน่า สุนทรวัฒน์; born 1980) is an American author, educator, and mechanical engineer. She won two Newbery Honors in 2021 for the children's books A Wish in the Dark and All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team (fiction and nonfiction, respectively), and another Newbery Honor in 2023 for the middle grade novel "The Last Mapmaker".
Christina Soontornvat | |
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Born | 1980 (age 43–44) |
Occupation | Author |
Education | Trinity University (BS) University of Texas at Austin (MS) |
Period | 2016–present |
Genre | Children's and young adult fiction |
Website | |
soontornvat |
Soontornvat was born in 1980,[1] a daughter of Amnaj Soontornvat, a businessowner from Thailand and granddaughter of Thai broadcasting executive Saengchai Sunthornwat.[2][3] She attended Weatherford High School in Weatherford, Texas, graduating in 1998.[4] She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Trinity University in 2002,[5] and a Master of Science degree in science education from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007.[6]
Prior to her literary career, Soontornvat worked at a science museum.[4]
In 2020, Soontornvat wrote the children's books A Wish in the Dark and All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team.[7][8] In an interview, she stated that All Thirteen, which describes the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, was told "from the Thai perspective as much as possible, and to let people know about Thailand".[9] Both books were awarded a Newbery Honor in 2021, making Soontornvat the third author to receive two Newbery awards in the same year (after Meindert DeJong in 1954 and E. L. Konigsburg in 1968).[4] She is the first author to win two Newbery awards in the same year for both fiction (A Wish in the Dark) and nonfiction (All Thirteen).[4]
Soontornvat, along with fellow writers Ellen Oh and Melanie Conklin, organized the Everywhere Book Fest, which took place May 1–2, 2020.[10][11] It was created in response to book festival cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Tucson Festival of Books, where Soontornvat and Oh had been scheduled to speak on a panel.[12] The event included live and pre-recorded segments featuring authors of children's and young adult books, and was attended by over 43,000 online viewers.[11]
Soontornvat lives in Austin, Texas with her husband. They have two children.[4]