Frances Clark Sayers

1897 - 1989

Librarian, Storyteller, Author, & Teacher


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. "Librarianship... is the profession that should have in greatest measure the gift, the skill, the imagination, the art, to invite and entice readers..."

Frances Clark Sayers
 Born in 1897, Frances Clarke Sayers grew up in Texas. She attended the University of Texas and the Carnegie Institute of Technology, then became an assistant in the children's room of the New York Public Library for five years. She spent the next eleven years as superintendent of work with children. In 1954 Frances Sayers moved out to California and became a lecturer on children's literature at UCLA. She retired in 1965 to become a full time writer. She is also known for her biography of Anne Carroll Moore and for her controversial essay "Walt Disney Accused." She died in 1989.

Photograph from
Awards
  • Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service in librarianship in 1965
  • Clarence Day Award in 1966 for Summoned by Books
  • Southern California Children's Literature Award in 1969
  • Regina Medal 1973
  • Annual Lectures at UCLA named after her
Selected Works
  • Sayers, Frances Clarke. (1963). The Origins of Public Library Work with Children. Library Trends. Vol. 12: 6-13.
  • Sayers, Frances Clarke. (1965). Walt Disney Accused. Horn Book Magazine.
Bibliography
  • Heins, Ethel L. (1990). Frances Clarke Sayers: A Legacy. Horn Book. Vol. 66: 99-109.

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Last Modified: May 5, 2002