Anthony L. Manna

Anthony L. Manna draws on his experiences and passion as an award-winning educator of fifty years to inspire kids and teens to become confident, skilled, and happily motivated readers and writers. He has taught in schools and universities in Turkey, Greece, Albania, and the United States where he immersed kids, teens, and young adults in powerful multicultural books and entertaining, action-packed activities to help them enjoy the discoveries about themselves and others that great books and their own writing can encourage them to explore. Manna is the award-winning author of Mr. Semolina-Semolinus: A Greek Folktale, The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece, and Greek Folktales: A Treasury of Delights. Loukas and the Game of Chance, a middle-grade fantasy, will be available in October, 2019, wherever books are sold.

Anthony L. Manna’s first collaboration with Soula Mitakidou, Mr. Semolina-Semolinus: A Greek Folktale, illustrated by Giselle Potter, was an ALA-ALSC Notable Book, a Marion Vannett Ridgway Award winner, and a New York Public Library Best Book for Children. Another collaboration of theirs, The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece, illustrated by Giselle Potter, was a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of 2012. They also collaborated on the anthology, Folktales from Greece: A Treasury of Delights. Anthony has worked with children and teens in drama and storytelling; has been an actor, director of children’s theater, vehicle repossessor, and janitor; and has taught in schools and universities in Turkey, Greece, Albania, and the United States. He divides his time between Ohio and Arizona.