Who is Twila Liggett?

Twila Liggett

Dr. Twila C. Liggett is the Creator of the outstanding PBS Children’s TV series, Reading Rainbow which premiered on PBS in 1983. She has been Executive Producer of the Emmy award winning series, Reading Rainbow, since its inception. Her knowledge and experience continue to provide the vital links between the parallel worlds of education and television that have made Reading Rainbow successful. Under her leadership, the series has won over 160 awards including the Prix Juenesse (1992) a prestigious international award, the Peabody (1993), and 20 national Emmys, eight of which are in the Outstanding Children’s Series category.The series has just been nominated in six categories for the 2005 Daytime Emmys.

As an educator and author, Dr. Liggett has published widely on issues ranging from literacy to human potential. In 1979 she received an American Educational Research Association award for a work she co-authored, The Whole Person Book. Toward Self-Discovery and Life Options. She also co-authored the Reading Rainbow Guide To Children's Books: The 101 Best Titles, (Citadel Press, Revised 1996). Author of a chapter, The Family Literacy Alliance: Using Public Television Book-based Series to Motivate At-Risk Populations in Family Literacy: Connections In Schools and Communities published by the International Reading Association (1995), Dr. Liggett also wrote entries for A Handbook for Literacy Educators: Research on Teaching the Communicative and Visual Arts "Voices from the Field," (Macmillan, 1998) and The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature (K.S. Giniger Company, Inc., 2001). She has also held appointments as an adjunct professor at Marymount Manhattan College (1999-2000) and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2001-2002).

Dr. Liggett holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction and Administration, a MA in Elementary Education (both from the University of Nebraska) and a BS in Secondary and Music Education (Union College, Nebraska). Dr. Liggett was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Marymount Manhattan College (New York City) in 2001.

Dr. Liggett has recently launched a new venture, Twila Liggett Media, Inc. which will consult with “startup” media projects as well as with ongoing projects requiring content specialization in the early childhood & elementary curriculum, especially literacy.