ALIST_Anniversary2017_Final (2)

F
FOLLOW
THE
ALISTER
EMERGING LEADER:
ADORA SVITAK
BY RACHEL KUO
This column highlights an up and coming individual who is passionate about what they do and are an inspiration to those who read their story.
As a literary prodigy, with both
prolific reading and writing capability,
16-year-old Adora Svitak has
already left an incredible legacy and
strives to achieve more. She has already
published three books, which include
Flying Fingers, a book on learning for
aspiring writers that alludes to her own
growing love of language, and Dancing
Fingers, co-written with her sister
Adrianna.
Svitak's exceptional chronology
begins at age 3, when she started reading
chapter books. By age 7, she wrote
over 250,000 words in that year alone,
which for comparison, is more than
twice the number of words in Moby
JACKIE HO
“I would love to interview Malala Yousafzai…
Her eloquence and passion for promoting education inspire me”
Dick. She has numerous written essays,
stories, poems and blogs. At 12, Svitak
spoke at the famed TED Conference,
proposing her “big idea” that the world
needs to think more childishly, meaning
that coming up with solutions to
large problems should be bold, optimistic
and creative. She later expanded
this idea by exploring how creativity
extends to classroom learning. At 13,
she published her first novel-length
book Yang in Disguise, a fictional work
exploring heroic responsibility and expectations.
For almost 10 years now, Svitak
has promoted literacy to large audiences
of students and adults both nationally
and abroad. Now, she also has an
online literary magazine called Write
With Adora, which publishes poems,
essays, short stories and creative nonfiction
by other young writers. She
lives in Redmond, Washington, where
she is helping to organize a local TED
conference.
A voracious reader, Svitak has
a plethora of favorite books, including
Little Women, The Hobbit, Jane
Eyre and The Chronicles of Narnia. A
non-fiction book she recommends
is Twilight of the Elites: America After
Meritocracy, which inspired the speech
she delivered to Yale and Columbia's
School of Education students on merit
and testing in education.
“[The book] drastically changed
my thinking about what we call 'merit'
and how we use it to determine who
gets the best schooling, best jobs, and
best lives,” she said.
Also confidently identifying as
a feminist, Svitak prefers writing and
reading strong female characters to
counter the fairly passive roles women
often have in children’s storybooks.
Her feminist role models include Gloria
Steinem, Elizabeth Warren, and
writers such as J.K. Rowling. A history
buff, she also looks up to leaders from
the women’s suffrage movement, such
as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan
B. Anthony.
“These women gave up so much
societal ‘respectability’, and personal
safety in the name of women's rights,
so I'm grateful to them,” she said.
12 | SPRING 2014
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