By: Ann D. David, chair, NCTE Committee Against Censorship, and Katharine Covino, member, NCTE Committee Against Censorship
Dr. Annamary Consalvo was a strong, consistent voice at NCTE for many decades. Most recently she served as the chair of the Committee Against Censorship and facilitator of the inaugural This Story Matters Teacher Corps cohort. Consalvo was an active member of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA) and the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN).
Last November, after an unexpected cancer diagnosis, Consalvo passed away in the company of her family in Texas. She is greatly missed by her colleagues and students at the University of Texas at Tyler, her colleagues and friends at NCTE, and her family and friends.
Consalvo’s involvement at NCTE spans decades. Until the pandemic she attended almost every Annual Convention, often speaking about writing, reading, censorship and intellectual freedom, and the ways that literature can open critical conversations with students. Consalvo’s scholarly contributions include research, articles and manuscripts, and offering resources that have deepened and improved the field of literacy education. She’s written for English Journal, English in Texas, Journal of College Reading and Learning, Language and Literacy, The ALAN Review, and many more. Her coauthored book, When Teaching Writing Gets Tough: Challenges and Possibilities in Secondary Writing Instruction, was published in 2024.
Her years-long work with colleagues to create, curate, and disseminate the Robert E. Cormier Digital Archive Exhibits is one example of her dedication to the field. These digital exhibits showcase artifacts from the Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University’s Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library. Each exhibit centers different aspects of Cormier’s writing, including censorship, bullying and terrorism, and the sexualization of children. By digitizing portions of the collection and creating exhibits of those archives, Annamary has helped create access for teachers, researchers, and educators around the world.
The contributions to intellectual freedom by Consalvo cannot be overstated and are one of her strongest legacies at NCTE. She started on the Committee Against Censorship in 2016, becoming chair in 2021 as the current wave of book censorship began in earnest. Consalvo’s focused leadership and meticulous attention to detail ensured the committee improved the professional lives of ELA teachers facing unprecedented political attacks on their professional judgment around book selection. Her leadership during the release of the NCTE book rationale database helped usher in a new era of book rationale creation and availability.
Consalvo will be missed by friends, colleagues, and students alike. Her ability to be present in every conversation and responsive to the people she was with made time spent in her company engaging and meaningful. She always brought her considerable knowledge and experience to the work of improving teaching, writing, and the world.