Virginia Hamilton

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Virginia Hamilton (March 12, 1936 – February 19, 2002) was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote over 35 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal.[1]

[edit] Biography

Virginia Hamilton grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Virginia Hamilton was named for her grandfather's home state. She attended Antioch College and then transferred to Ohio State University. She married the poet Arnold Adoff in 1960. Virginia loved old movies, trees, and Ohio sunsets.

Hamilton's first book, Zeely, was published in 1967, and she continued to write for the rest of her life. Her protagonists are generally African-American. She is known as a leader in the field of African-American children's literature.

During her lifetime, Virginia Hamilton received numerous awards, including the Edgar Award|Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

The Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth has been held at Kent State University each year since 1984[2].

Hamilton died of breast cancer in 2002.

[edit] Books

A few of Virginia Hamilton's books are:

  • Zeely
  • The House of Dies Drear (part of the two-part Dies Drear Chronicles)
  • The Planet of Junior Brown
  • Plain City
  • Arilla Sun Down
  • Cousins
  • Second Cousins
  • Drylongso
  • A White Romance
  • Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed
  • The People Could Fly
  • Justice And Her Brothers
  • Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
  • The Girl Who Spun Gold
  • M.C. Higgins, the Great
  • Bluish

[edit] External links

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