Bio
Victoria Winifred is an award-winning children’s author and educator. Her debut novel, The Princess, the Knight, and the Lost God: A Chess Story, earned multiple first-place awards, hundreds of five-star ratings, and a recommendation from Kirkus Reviews. She has written more than twelve children’s books, including the Cozy Chess Club Mysteries series for grades 2–5, as well as fantasy, mystery, and picture books, plus a series inspired by the bears of the Smoky Mountains. In addition to more children’s books, she is currently developing a Teen/Young Adult fantasy series and a cozy mystery series for adults.
Victoria has dedicated many years to education and literacy, including serving as a triple-certified mentor and coach to new teachers in New York City. Her elementary classroom served for a decade as a model workshop site with the Teachers College, Columbia University Reading and Writing Project, where she earned two literacy certifications through its institutes. Her self-created curriculum was adopted as an instructional model for a gifted program. She moved to East Tennessee in 2016, where she continued to teach literacy.
Victoria now visits schools year-round, encouraging students through lively, music-filled presentations that spark engagement and help them write about what they love, understand how stories are created, and discover the importance and joy of reading. Her standards-based, dynamic presentations are grounded in real experience and designed to inspire confident readers and writers, with chess often woven in as a dynamic extension of problem-solving and imagination.
For details about her author visits and rave reviews from educators, please click the School Visits page on the menu.
Chess Connections!
One special genre Victoria writes in is chess fiction, where stories use the game of chess as a creative backdrop or framework for problem-solving, strategy, and thoughtful decision-making.
In addition to her teaching degrees, Victoria holds a graduate certificate in Chess in Education, which informs the way she integrates chess as a theme across subjects such as reading, writing, math, and critical thinking.
Through these links, enjoy a glimpse into how chess was meaningfully woven into her classroom instruction to support learning.
Women’s World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk responds and surprises us by featuring my students’ letters online!
Grandmaster Maurice Ashley Visits Our Classroom!
Chess is Everything! My students.
Chess in My NYC Classroom
Chess even factored into our celebrity visit when the internationally acclaimed tenor Paul Potts and his wife Julz paid our classroom a surprise call.
