Louise Seaman Bechtel

Louise Seaman Bechtel (1894–1985) was an American editor, critic, author, and teacher of young children.

Bechtel graduated from Vassar College in 1915 and was the first person to head a juvenile book department established by an American publishing house.^[1] During her fifteen-year tenure as managing editor at the Macmillan Company (1919–1934), Bechtel shepherded production of more than 600 new books, marking a milestone in the growth and development of American literature for children.

Bechtel was compelled to resign from Macmillan Company in 1934 because of a broken hip, but continued her involvement in the field of children's literature. Between 1949 and 1956, Louise Bechtel worked as editor of the "Books for Young People" section of the New York Herald Tribune.

Three of the books she published, The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly in 1929, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field in 1930, and The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth in 1931, were awarded the Newbury Medal. As an author, Bechtel's best-known books are The Brave Bantam ^[2] in 1946, and Mr. Peck's Pets^[3] in 1947.

Bechtel was married to Edwin DeTurck Bechtel, an attorney, art collector, and authority and scholar of rose culture. She is buried at Saint Matthew's Episcopal Churchyard in Bedford, New York.

Contents 1 The Bechtel Prize 1.1 Bechtel Prize winners and finalists 1.1.1 2006 1.1.2 2007 1.1.3 2008 1.1.4 2009 1.1.5 2010 2 The Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship at the Baldwin Library 3 References 4 External links

The Bechtel Prize

In honor of Bechtel, the Bechtel Prize is endowed by the Cerimon Fund and administered by Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York. The Prize is awarded annually in recognition of an exemplary article or essay related to creative writing education, literary studies, and/or the profession of writing.

The winning essay appears in Teachers & Writers magazine, and the author receives a $3,500 honorarium. Possible topics for Bechtel Prize submissions include contemporary issues in classroom teaching, innovative approaches to teaching literary forms and genres, and the intersection between literature and imaginative writing.

Bechtel Prize winners and finalists

winner in bold.

2006

• Sarah Porter for “‘The Pen Has Become the Character’: How Creative Writing Creates Us”
• Sarah Dohrmann for “Teenage Boy Gunned Down”
• Douglas Goetsch for “A Poetry Stand”
• Louise Hawes for “Thou Shalt Not Tell... or Shalt Thou? A Reconsideration of the First Commandment for Writers”
• Chris Malcomb for “Broken Lines”

2007

• Anna Sopko for “Writing Standards”
• Sarah J. Gardner for “Three Writers, Imagination, and Meaning”
• Jeff Kass for “In Search of a True Word”
• Cheryl Pallant for “Gifting Poems: Getting Students to Read Poetry Closely”
• Barbara Roether for “Pride and Prejudice on the Barbary Coast”

2008

• Michael Bazzett for “Within Words”
• Cathlin Goulding for “When Twilight Falls: How Documentary Poetry Responds to Social Injustice”
• David Herring for “A Classroom for Old Men: Aging Among Poems and Teenagers”

2009

• Emily Raboteau for “Jazz Poetry”
• Marcia Chamberlain for “When You Listen Deeply”
• Garth Greenwell for “Reading with the Voice”

2010

• Garth Greenwell for “A Native Music: Writing the City in Sofia, Bulgaria”
• Wilson Diehl for “Getting Creative with the Truth”
• Barbara Feinberg for “Your First Lime”

The Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship at the Baldwin Library

The Bechtel Fellowship, awarded by the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, awards a mid-career librarian, with a minimum of eight years experience working with children, $4,000 to spend a month reading and studying at the Baldwin library at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

References

External links

• The Bechtel Prize at Teachers & Writers' website

Persondata
Name	Bechtel, Louise Seaman
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1894
Place of birth
Date of death	1985
Place of death