Sylvia Wilkinson (born 1940) was born in Durham, North Carolina in the United States. She graduated from Woman's College, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in 1962. She received her master's degree from Hollins College (now Hollins University) in 1963 and studied at Stanford University under a Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship 1965-66.
Wilkinson taught at various institutions including the Universities of North Carolina at Asheville and Chapel Hill, the College of William & Mary, Sweet Briar College, Hollins University, Washington University and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is a teaching scholar with the National Faculty. She received a number of literary awards including the Sir Walter Raleigh Award twice—in 1968 for A Killing Frost, and again in 1978 for Shadow of the Mountain, a Eugene Saxton Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the UNC - Greensboro Alumnae Service Award, and a Mademoiselle Merit Award for Literature. She has published 25 books: 6 novels for adults, 3 adult non fiction works (2 on auto racing, one on education) and 16 juveniles with automotive themes. She was a Motorsports Correspondent for Autoweek and is currently a World Book Encyclopedia contributor on auto racing. She was an auto racing timer and scorer for many years for numerous drivers including Paul Newman, Al Unser Sr., Bobby Rahal and Keke Rosberg.
MAJOR PUBLICATIONS
NOVELS:
MOSS ON THE NORTH SIDE, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Toronto, 1966; Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1967; Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1969 (German title: WIE DER REGEN IM WALD); Avon, New York, 1972; Pocket Books, New York, 1978.
A KILLING FROST, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Toronto, 1967; Limes
Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1970 (German title: WIE SPATES LICHT AUT VOGELFEDERN); Deutscher Tashenbuch Verlag (paperback), 1973; Avon, New York, 1973; Pocket Books, New York, 1978.CALE, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Toronto, 1970; Avon, New
York, 1972; Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1986.SHADOW OF THE MOUNTAIN, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Toronto,
1977; Pocket Books, New York, 1978.BONE OF MY BONES, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1982.
ON THE SEVENTH DAY, GOD CREATED THE CHEVROLET, Algonquin Books
of Chapel Hill, 1993.NON-FICTION:
CHANGE, A Handbook for the Teaching of English and Social
Studies in the Secondary Schools, LINC Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1971.THE STAINLESS STEEL CARROT: An Auto Racing Odyssey, HoughtonMifflin Co., Boston, Toronto, 1973; new expanded edition, THE STAINLESS STEEL CARROT: An Auto Racing Odyssey—Revisited, Brown Fox Books. Carpinteria, CA 2012.
DIRT TRACKS TO GLORY, The Early Days of Stock Car Racing as Told
by the Participants, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1983.JUVENILE NON-FICTION:
WORLD OF RACING, 10 titles, Childrens Press, Chicago
ERIC SPEED RACING BOOKS, 4 titles, Grosset & Dunlap
I CAN BE A RACE CAR DRIVER, Childrens Press, Chicago
THE TRUE BOOK OF AUTOMOBILES, Childrens Press, Chicago