Dr. Venetta Whitaker

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Dr. Venetta Whitaker is a published award-winning author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including textbooks and poetry collections. Her most recent publications are, Teaching Other People’s Children, 2012

(co-authored with her daughter, Venetta Rowles), Honeysuckle Plaits, 2009, The Stillhunter, 2008, and Ma Johnson and Her Katrina Kats, 2007.

A retired school teacher, principal, Special Education administrator and assistant superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Whitaker was also a lecturer, adjunct and visiting professor in California, Missouri, Moscow and Pakistan. She has traveled world-wide, working with troubled and traumatized children in Afghanistan, Africa, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, and Turkey.

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Among her commendations are: Recognition of Contributions to Communities Throughout the world, (awarded by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Las Vegas), Who’s Who in Black Las Vegas, Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame (Cambridge Ohio), and National Recognition of Work with Traumatized Children in Refugee Camps (Boonville, Missouri). In additional to her education and writing career, she is a widely acclaimed artist and poet.

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Whitaker has one daughter, Venetta Toca Rowles—also a published author—who is a senior high school teacher in Clark County School District in Las Vegas. They both live in Las Vegas, Nevada.