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Try our Authors and Illustrators area for information about CLN members. There's an alphabetical list as well.
Our alphabetically-arranged Birthday Bios page features authors and illustrators, current and past, with short biographies.
We thank our author and illustrator biography researchers, volunteers who write these informative articles about authors and illustrators, past and present: Lois Thompson Bartholomew, Terri DeGezelle, Juli Friedberg, Heidi Grosch, Sydney Lange, Steve Mudd, Vicki Palmquist, Leslie Greaves Radloff, Karen Ritz, Mary Rude, Julie G. Schuster, Christina Semsch, Martha Valainis |
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Leo Politi was born on Nov. 21st, 1908, in Fresno, California, but moved to his mother's native village near Milan, Italy at the age of seven. Constantly drawing, he went to art school and worked as a designer and illustrator before returning to the U.S. He settled on Los Angeles' quaintly Mexican Olvera Street, where he sketched tourists and sold drawings. Drawing Mexican children for magazines and books gave him an American career and professional identity.
His book, Song of the Swallows, was awarded the Caldecott in 1949. In 1980, the Fresno Public Library was named for him, and in 1991, the Leo Politi Elementary School was dedicated in LA on his 75th birthday. The City of Fresno and much of California celebrated his centennial birthday in 2008 with special events, exhibits, and recognitions.
Politi died in 1996.
—Karen Ritz |
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Elizabeth George Speare was born on November 21, 1908 in Melrose, Massachusetts. Young Elizabeth loved to read, spending long summers devouring books and dreaming about the characters she met there and her own made-up stories. She went to Smith College and Boston University, teaching high school English in Massachusetts after graduate school.
She married Alden Speare in 1936 and moved to Connecticut. Three years later their son, Alden, Jr., was born. Another three years saw the birth of their daughter, Mary. Mrs. Speare's family spent a good deal of time out-of-doors camping, skiing, and hiking. She wrote that it wasn't until her children were both in junior high that she had enough time during the day to fulfill her dreams of writing her own stories.
Her first book, Calico Captive, was published in 1957. The Witch of Blackbird Pond, her second book, about an imaginary girl from Wethersfield, Connecticut in1687 when people believed in witches, won a Newbery Medal in 1959. Speare was awarded a second Newbery for The Bronze Bow in 1962 and a Newbery Honor in 1984 for The Sign of the Beaver. She received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her distinguished and enduring contribution to children's literature. Recognized by literary critics as one of the best writers of historical fiction for children, Speare died in 1994.
—Karen Ritz |
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Happy Birthday, Marion Dane Bauer! Ms. Bauer celebrates her birth on November 20th. She has been writing books for young adults and children since the 1970s, when her first novel, Shelter from the Wind, was published to much acclaim.
Since that time, she has published more than thirty books, writing novels, picture books, and early readers. Her book On My Honor received a Newbery Honor in 1987. Her picture books, including If You Were Born a Kitten and Love Song for a Baby are top sellers.
Ms. Bauer is well-respected as a teacher, having led writing workshops for many years and teaching in the Writing for Children master's program at Vermont College.
Her most recently published books are A Bear Named Trouble based on a true story of a bear who broke into a zoo, Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins, a collection of five stories for young adults, and The Secret of the Painted House, an early chapter book mystery.
Read more about Marion Dane Bauer ...
—Vicki Palmquist |
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William Rossa Cole was born on November 20, 1919. He was best known as an editor and anthologist, creating nearly seventy-five books, fifty of which were anthologies. Three of his books were honored by the ALA: I Went to the Animal Fair in 1958, Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls in 1964, and The Birds and Beast Were There in 1965.
Of I Went to the Animal Fair, Elizabeth Minot Graves, wrote in The New York Times Book Review, that it is ''the sort of book that children big and small, parents and grandparents would enjoy reading and reciting 'round a winter fire.''
He served in the infantry in World War II and received the Purple Heart. After the war, he was publicity director at Alfred A. Knopf, publicity director and editor at Simon & Schuster and a publisher, with Viking Press, of William Cole Books. Mr. Cole was also a columnist for Saturday Review magazine. He died in 2000, at the age of 80.
—Terri DeGezelle |
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Born November 16, 1916, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Miroslav Sasek wrote a remarkable series of books that were first published in the 1960s. He trained as an architect to please his parents, who didn't want him to work as an artist. However, after receiving his degree he attended l'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France.
He escaped from Prague in 1948, settling in Munich, where his wife worked. The couple had one son, Dusan Pedro Sasek. Miroslav Sasek worked for Radio Free Europe from 1951 to 1957, before he began the This Is series of books with its first title, This is Paris. He initially planned to do just three books about Paris, London, and Rome, but then he realized how much fun they were to research and illustrate. By the time the series was finished in 1974, there were 18 titles in all. This is London and This is New York were noted on the New York Times Best Illustrated list in 1959 and 1960 respectively.
Rizzoli is now republishing these books, with two of the titles released in 2004, This is New York and This is San Francisco. Two more titles, This is Venice and This is Ireland, will be released in February of 2005. His artwork and text are timeless and enchanting.
—Vicki Palmquist |
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Jean Fritz was born on November 16th in Hankow, China, the daughter of a minister and missionary. She returned to the United States at the age of thirteen. She received as A.B. degree in 1937 from Wheaton College and studied at Columbia University. She worked as a teacher, research assistant, and children's librarian. She founded the Jean Fritz Writer's Workshops and taught writing from 1961-1969. She published her first book, Bunny Hopewell's First Spring, in 1954. She received an American Book Award, Boston Globe Horn Book Honor, and a Newbery Honor for her autobiography, Homesick: My Own Story, in 1983. Fritz is considered one of the best writers of historical biographies and novels for young people. Some of her latest informative, entertaining biographies are Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers, You Want to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?, Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln, and Why Not, Lafayette?.
—Karen Ritz |
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Robin McKinley was born on November 16th in Warren, Ohio. The daughter of a Naval officer, her family traveled the world. She graduated from Bowdoin College.
Her first novel, Beauty, was accepted by the first publisher to whom she submitted it and it was published in 1978. Of her many books, The Hero and the Crown won the Newbery medal in 1985 and Blue Sword received a Newbery Honor in 1983.
Today, she and her husband, Peter Dickinson, the author, live in Hampshire, England.
—Vicki Palmquist |
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Daniel Pinkwater celebrates his birthday on November 15th. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee and remembers writing one-page parodies when he was in the 5th grade. He studied art at St. Leon's College in Chicago, apprenticing to local sculptors during the summer. Not finding much success with his art after college, he began a writing career in 1969 with The Terrible Roar and has gone on to author 80 children's books. The main characters in Pinkwater's books are usually a reflection of his own childhood. The places he's been, the people he's met, his personality and interests are all involved in his books.
Look for I Was a Second Grade Werewolf, Hoboken Chicken Emergency, and his newest Fat Commandos Go West and The Picture of Morty and Ray. Pinkwater is a regular contributer to National Public Radio's All Things Considered. He also appears on Weekend Edition Saturday to discuss books with NPR's Scott Simon. Pinkwater lives on a farm in upstate New York with his wife, Jill, who is also a writer.
—Karen Ritz |
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Called the "King of Cartoons" by Newsweek magazine, William Steig was born on November 14, 1907. He carved out dual careers as both a highly-respected and entertaining cartoonist and an award-winning, bestselling author of children's books and novels. Steig was born into an artistic family in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in the Bronx, creating cartoon for his high school newspaper. He was an excellent athlete and a member of the All-American Water Polo Team. He spent two years at City College and three years at the National Academy. Steig has illustrated for The New Yorker since 1930. When his father lost his job during the Depression, Steig was able to support his family with his cartoons. In 1968, at age 61, when most would consider retiring, he launched a career in children's books. By his third title, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, he had won a Caldecott Medal. Abel's Island and Dr. DeSoto were awarded Newbery Honors. Much of America knows him as the author of Shrek, made into a feature movie, but check out his other polished gems at your local library. American classic William Steig died of natural causes at his home in Boston on October 3rd, 2003. He is survived by his wife Jeanne, two daughters, and a son.
—Karen Ritz |
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Astrid Lindgren was born on November 14th in Vimmerby, Sweden. With no formal training beyond high school, she wrote Pippi Longstocking as a present for her daughter's 10th birthday. Published in 1945, red-haired, strong-willed Pippi differed radically from the familiar literary tradition of the time. Lindgren received the Raben & Sjogren's best children's book prize and became a book editor for that publisher for many years. Lindgren went on to publish over 100 books, which have sold tens of millions of copies.
Her characters have inspired many television and screen adaptations and even a theme park. Lindgren received the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1958 and the Mildred Batchelder Award for Ronia, the Robber's Daughter in 1984. She died in January of 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden, at the age of 94.
"I don't consciously try to influence the children who read my books," Lindgren said, "all I dare hope for is that they may contribute a little bit towards a humane and democratic view of the world in the children who read them."
—Karen Ritz |
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Miska Miles was a pseudonym for the author Patricia Miles Martin, born November 14th, 1899, in Cherokee, Kansas. She was a graduate of the University of Wyoming and worked as an elementary school teacher for four years before beginning a career in writing.
Patricia began writing almost by accident. She had enrolled in an upholstery class that was too full and sat down, instead, in a creative writing class that had empty seats. Her first book, Sylvester and the Voice in the Forest, was written during that class and published in 1958. Ms. Martin went on to write over 100 stories under her own name, as well as the pseudonyms Miska Miles, Patricia A. Miles, and Jerry Lane. She had particular interest in biographies, fiction from different cultures, and animals. Ms. Martin edited several collections of books. She was also inspired by the things that happened to her while living on a farm in Kansas and a Navajo reservation.
Her book, Annie and the Old One, received a Newbery Honor and a Christopher Medal in 1972. It was adapted into a film in 1976.
—Karen Ritz |
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Robert Louis Stevenson, hailed as one of the greatest letter writers in the English language, was born in Edinburgh on November 13th, 1850. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at Edinburgh University to study engineering, but switched to law. After completing his exams, he turned to writing and moved to France to be in the company of other young artists and painters. His first published volumes were works of travel writing.
Many years later, on vacation in Scotland, cold rainy weather forced his family to amuse themselves indoors, and Robert and his 12-yr-old stepson drew, colored and annotated the map of an imaginary “Treasure Island.”
Treasure Island was published in book form in 1883, marking the beginning of his popularity and his career as a profitable writer. Later works for children included A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), The Black Arrow (1883), Kidnapped (1886) and Catriona (1893). Stevenson died in December 1894.
—Karen Ritz |
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Marjorie Sharmat celebrates her birthday on November 12th. She was born and grew up in Portland, Maine.
She describes herself in childhood as a stereotypical future writer—introspective, nonathletic, nearsighted, and shy. She started to write stories and poems by the age of eight, and "published" a newspaper with a friend.
She studied merchandising at Westbrook Junior College as she thought she could never become a published writer. She worked for many years at Yale in the Circulation Library. Her first published work was a four-word advertising slogan for the Grant Stores.
Her interest in children's books began after the birth of her sons and her first book, Rex, was published by Harper & Row in 1967. She has now written over sixty books, many that have been translated into eleven foreign languages. Nate the Great, Maggie Marmelstein for President, The Day I Was Born, and The Big Fat Enormous Lie are some of her titles. Sharmat now resides in Arizona "suffering from a chronic case of blizzard nostalgia."
—Karen Ritz |
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Born on November 12th in Windsor, Vermont, Dahlov Ipcar was the daughter of William and Marguerite Zorach, well-known artists. Although they encouraged their daughters artistic talent, they didn't want her formally trained. Instead, Dahlov attended progressive schools such as City and Country School, Walder, and Lincoln School of Teachers College at Columbia in New York City. She married an accountant, Adolph Ipcar, at the age of 18 and persuaded him to try life as a farmer. The couple moved to Maine and farmed there for 30 years. After that time, they lived on their farm but it was no longer an active dairy farm. In 1939, Ms. Ipcar had her first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1945, she illustrated her first picture book for Margaret Wise Brown, The Little Fisherman. Since then, she has written and illustrated more than thirty picture books. She also writes fantasy novels, including Dark Horn Blowing. Sadly, Ms. Ipcar's husband, Adolph, died on October 22nd at the age of 98. Ms. Ipcar continues to live in Maine. The couple had two sons, Robert and Charles. In 1972, Dahlov and her husband together received the Maine Governor's Award for "significant contributions to Maine in the broad field of the arts and humanities." She has also received three honorary degrees from The University of Maine, Colby, and Bates colleges. In April of 1998, The University of Minnesota honored Dahlov with The Kerlan Award for Children's literature. Several of her books are available at www.downeastbooks.com.
—Vicki Palmquist |
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Anne Parrish, born on November 12th, 1888, came from good artistic stock. Her mother was Anne Lodge Parrish, with whom this author and illustrator is often confused; her father artist Thomas C. Parrish. But art did not come easily to her and she soon turned to writing, publishing her first novel in 1923. She fancied female characters and focused on the daily routines and relationships of ordinary people, often with unhappy endings. Her novel All Kneeling (1928) was her only bestseller.
She entered the world of juvenile fiction with her brother, Dillwyn, and together they collaborated on two children's books. She later wrote and illustrated on her own. Three of these books were nominated for the Newbery award: Knee High to a Grasshopper (1923), The Dream Coach (1924), Floating Island (1927), and The Story of Appleby Capple (1950). Ms. Parrish died in 1957. (If you have any of her books and care to send CLN a jpg of the book cover(s), we'd appreciate it. Her books are out of print.)
—Heidi Grosch |
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Happy Birthday to Bonnie Graves, who celebrates on November 10th. Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Bonnie moved with her family to California when she was a youngster. She earned her BA in English literature from California State at Long Beach. She then taught elementary school. Today, Ms. Graves writes full-time. She and her husband, Michael Graves, write textbooks for students who will teach reading.
Bonnie's first children's book, The Best Worst Day, was published in 1996. Her most recent picture book, Taking Care of Trouble, is an early chapter book, a transitional reader for kids who have learned to read and are ready for something more challenging. Two early readers are Adventure Underground and the Heroes of Beesville.
—Vicki Palmquist |
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