Torran Anderson
Torran Anderson created the Story Grow game. Torran’s YA novel-in-verse, Piñata Moon, won the Paterson Prize and his YA novel-in-verse Songcoming will be published in Spring 2026 by West 44 Books.
Category: Artist/Individual
Discipline: Writing / Literature
Program Affiliations: *Certified Cross-Sector Service Provider | Arts Foundation Grantees
About Torran Anderson
Torran Anderson has published over fifty books and created the environmental story app, Earth Day Carol. Torran’s YA novel-in-verse, Piñata Moon, won the NM AZ Book Prize for poetry and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. His YA novel-in-verse will be published in Spring 2026 by West 44 Books.
For over twenty-five years, Torran has worked on environmental projects. Torran developed environmental education programs for the Environmental Education Exchange, social justice programs as the Director of the Legacy of Japanese Incarceration Project, and peacebuilding projects at the Bridge Guard Residency in Slovakia. He founded Germination Games and is piloting a collaborative storytelling game called Story Grow: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/story-grow
https://www.scbwi.org/members/torran-anderson
Collaboration with Nosotros Academy on a community storytelling project
Legacy of Japanese Incarceration Project
Torran Anderson, an #ExchangeAlumni of the Fulbright Program, speaks about the project he and the students at Nosotros Academy undertook to uncover and tell the unrecognized stories of Japanese internment survivors in their community.
Group poetry project created with students across Norway
You Bring Out the Norwegian in Me
This is a group poem that was created with students while traveling around as a Norway Roving Scholar.
Piñata Moon is a YA novel-in-verse set in Tucson
Piñata Moon
Winner of the Paterson Prize Books for Young People and NM-AZ Book Prize for Poetry
"It’s not only young adults who can be touched by this affecting book."— Christine Wald-Hopkins, Arizona Daily Star
"Edgy, inventive, and sincere, Anderson gives the reader a new look at an old medium, creating a unique experience that keeps hold of the reader long after the last page has been turned.”— Joe Buckler, Pine Reads Review
When Envo’s friend, J., commits suicide, he’s caught between his regular routine of driving around looking for parties and his own struggles with depression. Told over the course of one night in Tucson, Arizona, Enzo searches for a rite of passage that will help him confront J.’s death.As Enzo wrestles with his complicated history with J., he struggles to communicate with his friends, Matas and Sci-fi, and imagines the moon is his only confidant. Enzo keeps a running list of the tiny things he enjoys about living to combat his urge to follow in J.’s footsteps and he receives tweets from the moon that give him the guidance he craves.This YA Novel in Verse explores how we navigate the delicate balance between loss and persistence.
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