Kalli Dakos

Dakos was born on June 16, 1950, in Ottawa, Canada.^[1] She studied at the Queen's University, the University of Nevada, the University of Alberta, and Syracuse University.^[1] She earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees from Queen's University.

Dakos worked as an elementary school teacher and reading specialist early in her career, an experience that has been identified as a central influence on her poetry.^[1] Dakos's debut collection, If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School, was published in 1990. Her poetry is described by the Poetry Foundation as "uniquely attuned to the lives of elementary school students," and she has been praised for her "sensitive evocations of the feelings of elementary-aged students" as well as for the "frequent humor and word play" of her poems.^[1] Many of her books have been named International Literacy Association (ILA)–Children's Book Council (CBC) Children's Choice Selections.^[1]

They Only See the Outside (2021) was named to the 2022 Notable Poetry Books and Verse Novels list by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Poetry for Children Award Committee.^[2][3]