Charles Waters Poetry
About - From Yeadon, PA to Disney World to Being An Author
4th Grade
Poetry Alive!
I was born in Philadelphia and raised in the suburbs of Philly in a town called Yeadon.
Fun fact: Will Smith grew up 15 minutes from me in one direction, Tina Fey grew up 15 minutes from me in another direction and Bradley Cooper grew up 30 minutes from me in yet another direction. And, no, I haven't met any of them ... yet. :-)
After graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson University, I joined several theater touring companies, including, Poetry Alive! where I first experienced the power of poetry.
For eight years afterward when I wasn't developing my poetic skills, I was acting at Walt Disney World performing in various shows, including, the role of Judge at The American Idol Experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Walt Disney World
Irene Latham
.jpg)
Traci Sorell
My books (co-written with Irene Latham) include: African Town (winner of the 2023 Scott O'Dell Award For Historical Fiction), Dictionary For A Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A - Z, Be A Bridge and the Charlotte Huck Honor book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship.
Also, my book Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) has received an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor and a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor.
​
My poems have appeared in many anthologies including:
- Amazing Places edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins.
- The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis.
- The Proper Way To Meet A Hedgehog edited by Paul B. Janeczko.
- The Poetry Friday Anthology Series edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.
- One Minute Till Bedtime edited by Kenn Nesbitt.
​
Since 2007 I have been a proud member of the Society of Children's Books
Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).