Sorell has spent much of her life living within the Cherokee Nation tribe's reservation in northeastern Oklahoma and currently resides with her family by Fort Gibson Lake.[1] Her mother's family has lived in the area since 1838 when Cherokee people were removed from their homelands.[2] She has a younger brother and sister.[2]
As a child, Sorell learned about her ancestors from her grandmother, fishing with her family, and caring for animals and the land.[2] She also enjoyed reading, singing, and performing in theater productions.[2]
When Sorell was a teenager, she and her family moved to Southern California, and she became the first person in her family to graduate from college.[3] Her mother, sister, and brother later received degrees as well.[2]
Sorell's second language is Spanish, though she is learning the Cherokee language.[2]
In 1996, she received a Master of Arts from the University of Arizona, where she studied American Indian Studies with a concentration in Federal Indian Law & Policy.[1]
Sorell began her career by helping Native Nations and their citizens by writing "legal codes, testimony for Congressional hearings, federal budget requests, grants and reports."[2]
Since beginning her writing career, Sorell has continued to focus on incorporating culturally accurate books about Cherokee and other Indigenous people into the canon of literature for children and young adults.[2]
Sorell was a Tulsa Artist Fellow in 2021 and 2022.[1]
Awards and honors
Seven of Sorell's books are Junior Library Guild selections, including Powwow Day,[4]We Are Still Here!,[5]We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga,[6] and Classified.[7]
Clack, Clack! Smack! A Cherokee Stickball Story, illustrated by Joseph Erb (2024)
Ages 7+
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer, illustrated by Natasha Donovan (2021)
One Land, Many Nations: Volume 1 with Lee Francis IV, illustrated by Jesse Hummingbird (2021)
We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know, illustrated by Frané Lessac (2021)
Middle grade
Indian No More with Charlene Willing McManis (2019)
She Persisted: Wilma Mankiller with Chelsea Clinton, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint (2022)
Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series, illustrated by Arigon Starr (2023)
Mascot with Charles Waters (2023)
Riding the Trail: Cherokees Remember the Removal with Will Chavez (2026)
Anthology contributions
Thanku: Poems of Gratitude, edited by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Marlena Myles (2019)
No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley, illustrated by Jeanette Bradley (2020)
The Reluctant Storyteller with Art Coulson, illustrated by Carlin Bear Don't Walk and Roy Boney Jr. (2020)
The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (2020)
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (2021)
Wonderful Women of the World, edited by Laurie Halse Anderson (2021)
No World Too Big: Young People Fighting for Global Climate Change, edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley, illustrated by Jeanette Bradley (2023)
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