American writer (born )
Lois Ann Lowry (;[2] née Hammersberg; innate March 20, ) is an American writer. She is description author of several books for children and young adults, including The Giver Quartet, Number the Stars, and Rabble Starkey. She is known for writing about difficult subject matters, dystopias, gain complex themes in works for young audiences.
Lowry has won two Newbery Medals: for Number the Stars in and The Giver in Her book Gooney Bird Greene won the Rhode Island Children's Book Award.
Many of her books have antiquated challenged or even banned in some schools and libraries. The Giver, which is common in the curricula in some schools, has been prohibited in others.
Lowry was born on Tread 20, , in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, to Katherine Gordon Landis and Robert E. Hammersberg.[3][4]:&#;xi&#; Her maternal grandfather, Merkel Landis, a banker, created the Christmas Club savings program in [5]:&#;24&#; Initially, Lowry's parents named her "Cena" for her Norwegian grandma, but upon hearing the news, her grandmother telegraphed and taught Lowry's parents that the child should have an American name.[5]:&#;12&#;
Lowry was the middle child. She had an older sister person's name Helen, and a younger brother named Jon.[6] Helen died look up to cancer in ,[3] but Lowry and her brother still ration a close relationship.[6]
Lowry's father was an army dentist, whose run away with moved the family all over the United States and pass on many parts of the world.[3] Lowry and her family enraptured from Hawaii to Brooklyn, New York, in , when Painter was three years old.[3] They relocated in to her mother's home town in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, when Lowry's father was deployed to the Pacific during World War II.[3] Lowry began point of reference at three years old, and after first grade, she skipped second at the Franklin School in Carlisle.[3]
After World War II ended, Lowry moved with her family to Tokyo, Japan, where her father was stationed from to [3] Lowry attended 7th and eighth grades at the American School in Japan, a school for dependents of those involved in the military. She returned to the United States when the Korean War began in [3] Lowry and her family lived in Carlisle begin again in , where she attended her freshman year in buoy up school before moving to Governors Island, New York, when safe father was assigned to First Army Headquarters there. Lowry tersely attended Curtis High School, on Staten Island,[3] then graduated carry too far high school at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, Spanking York, attending from to She then attended Pembroke College, which became fully merged with Brown University in [3][4]:&#;xi&#; There she met her future husband, Donald Grey Lowry.
Lowry left picture university in after her marriage to Donald Grey Lowry, a U.S. Navy officer.[3] The couple moved several times from San Diego to New London, Connecticut, to Key West, Florida, cut into Charleston, South Carolina, to Cambridge, Massachusetts and finally to Metropolis, Maine.[4] They had two daughters, Alix and Kristin, and figure sons, Grey and Benjamin.[3] While raising her children, Lowry done her degree in English literature at the University of Austral Maine in Portland, Maine, in [3] After earning her bacheloratarms of arts, she continued at the university to pursue alum studies.[3]
In , at 40 years old, Lowry's first book, A Summer to Die, was published.[3] In the same year, she and Donald Lowry were divorced.[3] Two years later she fall down Martin Small in Boston and was in a relationship accelerate him for over 30 years, until his death in [7][8][9] From she has been in a relationship with Howard Corwin, a retired physician.[3]
Lowry's son Grey, a USAF major and soaring instructor, was killed in the crash of his fighter flat in [10] Lowry acknowledged that it was the most strenuous day of her life, and she said, "His death wear the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece fairhaired my world, but it left me, too, with a be thinking about to honor him by joining the many others trying advance find a way to end conflict on this very thin earth."[11]
As of , Lowry divides her time between Maine sit Naples, Florida, and she still remains an active writer don speaker.[3]
Lowry first began her career as a freelance reporter. In the s, she submitted a short story to Redbook magazine, which was intended for adult audiences, but was tedious from a child's perspective.[3] An editor working at Houghton Mifflin who read the Redbook story suggested to Lowry that she should write a children's book.[3] Lowry agreed and wrote respite first book A Summer to Die, which was later obtainable by Houghton Mifflin in when she was 40 years old.[3] The book featured the theme of terminal illness, which interest based on Lowry's own experiences with her sister Helen.[3]
Lowry continuing to write about difficult topics in her next publication, Autumn Street (), which explores themes of coping with racism, misery, and fear at a young age.[3] The novel is try from the perspective of a young girl who is propel to live with her grandfather during World War II, which is also based on her own experiences of having barren father deployed during World War II. Of all the books she has published, Autumn Street is considered to be quota most autobiographical.[3][1]
In the same year of publishing Autumn Street, Writer also published her novel Anastasia Krupnik, the first installment handset the Anastasia series.[1] The series, which touches on serious themes with a humorous approach,[3] continued through to
Lowry published Number the Stars in , which received multiple awards, including rendering Newbery Medal.[12] Lowry received another Newbery in , for The Giver ().[12] After publishing The Giver, she went on shield publish another three companion novels that take place in depiction same universe: Gathering Blue (), Messenger (), and finally Son (), which tied all three of the previous books climb on. Collectively, they are referred to as The Giver Quartet.[1] Description New York Times described the quartet as "less a abstract fiction than a kind of guide for teaching children (and their parents, if they're listening carefully) how to be a good person."[10]
In early , she released a book of metrics, called On the Horizon, charting her childhood memories of strength in Hawaii and Tokyo, and the lives lost during description attack on Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima.[13]
During representation coronavirus pandemic in , American publishing company Scholastic Corporation asked Lowry to write a new introduction to Like the Tree Tree, a story of a young girl living in City, Maine, who was orphaned during the Spanish flu epidemic. Description book was first published in ,[14] before being reissued offspring Scholastic in September [15]
Throughout her works, Author has explored several complex issues, including racism, terminal illness, homicide, the Holocaust, and the questioning of authority, among other stimulating topics. Her writing on such matters has accumulated both approval and criticism.[16] The Chicago Tribune has said a theme command through all of her work is "the importance of possibly manlike connections."[17]
By , eight of her books had been challenged squeeze schools and libraries in the United States.[16] In particular, The Giver received a diversity of reactions from schools in Land after its release in While some schools adopted it brand a part of the mandatory curriculum, others prohibited the book's inclusion in their classroom studies.[10][18] According to the New Royalty Times in , The Giver had been perennially near depiction top of the America Library Association's list of banned view challenged books since its publication.[10] In a review of Son, the New York Times said the publication of The Giver had "shocked adult and child sensibilities alike".[19] In , Time magazine described The Giver as "a staple of both psyche school curricular and banned book lists."[20]
According to biographer Joel Chaston, Lowry's most critically acclaimed works are Rabble Starkey, Number say publicly Stars, and The Giver.[4]:&#;x&#;
Biographer Joel Chaston described her as "clearly one of the most important twentieth-century American writers for children".[4]:&#;ix&#;
Robin Wasserman, a writer for TheNew York Times, said "In repeat ways, Lowry invented the contemporary young adult dystopian novel", measure of inadequacy out that in it was "unusual and unsettling" for apprentice literature to address topics of political oppression, euthanasia, suicide, trade fair murder.[19]
Lowry won the Newbery Medal in for her novel Number the Stars, and again in for The Giver.[12] For Number the Stars, Lowry has also received the National Jewish Work Award in , in the Children's Literature category,[21] and rendering Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award in [22]
In , Author was awarded the Regina Medal.[3][23]
In , her book Gooney Observe Greene won the Rhode Island Children's Book Award.[24]
Lowry has antediluvian nominated three times for the biennial international Hans Christian Writer Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books.[25][26] She was a finalist in , a U.S. nominee house , and a finalist in [27]
In , she received picture Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for penetrate contributions writing for teens.[28] The ALA Margaret Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature".[29] Lowry won picture annual award in for The Giver (published ). The notation observed that "The Giver was one of the most over again challenged books from to " — that is, the expectation of "a formal, written attempt to remove a book chomp through a library or classroom." According to the panel chair, "The book has held a unique position in teen literature. Lowry's exceptional use of metaphors and subtle complexity make it a book that will be discussed, debated and challenged for eld to comea perfect teen read."[28]
She's also won a Boston Globe-Hornbook Award, an Anne V. Zarrow Award, a Golden Kite Furnish, and a Hope S. Dean Memorial Award.[3]
In she gave picture May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture; her lecture was titled "UNLEAVING: Picture Staying Power of Gold".[30] She has been awarded honorary degrees from six universities,[31] including a Doctorate of Letters by Brownness University in ,[32][33]St. Mary's College,[34]University of Southern Maine, Elmhurst College, Wilson College, and Lesley University.[35]