Bradley Steffens Explained

Bradley Steffens (born February 10, 1955) is an American poet, playwright, novelist, and author of more than seventy nonfiction books for children and young adults.[1]

Early professional work

In the mid-1970s Steffens self-published two chapbooks of his poetry,[2] which he sold on the streets of SouthernCalifornia. In 1976, the City of Laguna Beach, California, denied Steffens a permit to sell his works within thecity limits, touching off brouhaha in the local press.[3] Steffens went to court, seeking relief under the First Amendment, but the court ruled in favor of the city. Steffens turned to writing a series of one-act plays-in-verse,which were professionally produced as “Herod the Great: A Sequence of Pageants” by the Olympia Arts Ensemblein Minneapolis in 1981 with Michael Yonkers in the title role. Noel Bredahl of the St. Paul Post-Dispatch hailedthe play as "an awesome creation on the part of the playwright.[4] David Hawley, also of the St. Paul Post Dispatch, wrote, “Steffens is a powerful, talented artist."[5]

Writing career

Steffens has published more than fifty poems over the last forty years. His poems have appeared widely in literary journals, including Crosscurrents, Loonfeather, Stone Country, Sidewalks, The Bellingham Review, River Bottom, The Worcester Review, The Birmingham Review, Black Buzzard Review, The Lake Street Review, Plains Poetry Journal, The White Rock Review, The Ball State University Forum, San Diego Writers’ Monthly, Encore, and Farmer’s Market. He has received many awards for his poetry, including the Emerging Voices Award presented by The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and the Lake Superior Writing Competition Award sponsored by the Duluth Public Library. While working as a freelance proofreaderfor Lucent Books in 1989, Steffens wrote his first nonfiction book for children, Animal Rights. Over the next thirty-four years, he wrote sixty-three more books for children and young adults, coauthored seven, and edited the 2004 anthology The Free Speech Movement. His works have been praised by Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Children’s Literature. The Fountain called his Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist a “beautiful work about Ibn al-Haytham and his advancement of experimental science.”[6] In December 2021, Kirkus Reviews named his The Dark Side of Social Media one of the Best YA Nonfiction Books of 2021.[7]

Steffens is a two-time recipient of the San Diego Book Award for Best Young Adult & Children's Nonfiction. His Giants won the 2005 award[8] and his J.K. Rowling received the 2007 prize.[9] J.K. Rowling also earned Steffens the Theodor S. Geisel Award for the best published book by a San Diego County author in 2007.[10] His Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist was excerpted in Discovery Channel Magazine[11] in March 2010. He was the keynote speaker at the Southeast Regional Conference of The Islamic Medical Association of North America, the Sixth Annual Meetingof the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York,[12] the Pacifica Institute,[13] and Women in Dialogue.[14]

Selected works

Steffens is best known for his 2017 historical novel The Prisoner of Al Hakim, which tells the story of the eleventh-century Islamic mathematician Alhasan Ibn al-Haytham. The Fountain commented, "From the very first page Steffens brilliantly brings Alhasan’s internal character to life on the page, sketching a conflicted, fascinating portrait of a reluctant hero. It’s not easy to dramatize the acts of thinking and creating—and harder still to do so in a subtle, elegant style—yet Steffens manages the trick."[15] Blue Minaret praised the book, stating: “The story of Ibn al-Haytham has now been fictionalized masterfully by Bradley Steffens. Each character is well-crafted and in-depth. Each chapter is action-packed. Fans of history will appreciate the descriptions of Cairo and Basra, the esteemed House of Wisdom, even the deserts forming the backdrop of the book. There are plenty of women with strong, independent spirits, and many men in whose hearts burns the love of both God and science.”[16] Wardah Books observed: "This period novel dating back to the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphate brings to the fore an oft-forgotten side of polymaths such as Alhasan Ibn al-Haytham, as a person who, like all of us, experiences doubt, fear and love.”[17]

Author

Coauthor

Editor

Free Speech Movement (American Social Movements). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004.

Notes and References

  1. "Library of Congress Online Catalog: Bradley Steffens". United States Library of Congress.
  2. Bradley Steffens, From an Eighteenth Century Painted Tile and Other Poems. San Rafael: Sack Back Publications,1975. Anonymous, From the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters: An Anonymous Romance of Theatric Space, and Six Anonymous Songs. San Rafael: Sack Back Publications, 1976. https://books.google.com/books?id=kTcGHwAACAAJ, https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003UNTG72/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&condition=all
  3. Janice Brownfield, Reporter vs. Publisher. Santa Ana, California: Alpenstock Publishing, 1986, pp. 46-47.
  4. Noel BreDahl (April 9, 1981). “What’s playing on area stages.” St. Paul Dispatch, p. 3B.
  5. David Hawley (April 6, 1981). “’Herod’ suffers from uncontrolled excess.” St. Paul Post-Dispatch, p. 14A.
  6. Ertan Salik (May–June 2008). "Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist." The Fountain.
  7. (December 15, 2021). "Best YA Nonfiction of 2021." Kirkus Reviews.
  8. Arthur Salm (May 22, 2006). “San Diego's award-winning writers”. San Diego Union Tribune.
  9. Robert L. Pincus (May 25, 2008). “Steffens takes top honor at book awards bash.” San Diego Union Tribune.
  10. Robert L. Pincus (May 25, 2008). “Steffens takes top honor at book awards bash.” San Diego Union Tribune.
  11. Bradley Steffens (March 2010). “The Optical Scientist”. Discovery Channel Magazine, pp. 90-95.
  12. Haris Tarin (May 20, 2010). “MPAC-NY Celebrates 6th Anniversary at Annual Dinner.” Muslim Public AffairsCouncil.
  13. “Lecture Series with Author Bradley Steffens.” Pacifica Institute.
  14. First Scientist (March 11, 2010). Gonna Happen.
  15. Justin Pahl (July–August 2017). Take Up the Pen, Not the Sword. The Fountain.
  16. (September 2017). Book Review: The Prisoner of al-Hakim. Blue Minaret.
  17. (November 2017). Prisoner of Al Hakim A Novel. Wardah Books.

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