Virginia Esther Hamilton (March 12, 1936 – February 19, 2002) was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great

M. C. Higgins, the Great

M. C. Higgins, the Great is a book by Virginia Hamilton that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1975. It also won the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the only book to do that. It is a coming of age novel; it covers three eventful...

, for which she won the National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal

Newbery Medal

The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...

.

Named for her grandfather's home state, Virginia Hamilton grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Yellow Springs, Ohio

Yellow Springs is a village in Greene County, Ohio, United States, and is the location of Antioch College and Antioch University Midwest. The population was 3,487 at the 2010 census...

. She attended Antioch College

Antioch College

Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...

 and then transferred to Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

. She married the poet Arnold Adoff

Arnold Adoff

Arnold Adoff is an American children's writer. In 1988, the National Council of Teachers of English gave Adoff the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. He has said, "I will always try to turn sights and sounds into words...

 in 1960.

Hamilton's first book, as a child was "The Novel". Then came Zeely, published in 1967, and won numerous awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Coretta Scott King Award

Coretta Scott King Award

The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association...

, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award

The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...

, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal

Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal is a prize awarded by the American Library Association to writers or illustrators of children's books published in the United States who have over a period of years made substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature...

, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award

Hans Christian Andersen Award

The Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...

.

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

She died of breast cancer in 2002.

Selected bibliography

• Zeely (1967)
• The House of Dies Drear
  The House of Dies Drear
  The House of Dies Drear is a 1968 novel by Virginia Hamilton. The novel takes place in 1968,Thomas Small, a 13-year-old African American boy, moves with his family into a house that was once part of the Underground Railroad that is in Ohio. His father, Mr. Small, tells Thomas that the caretaker of...
  
  (1968, part one of the two-part Dies Drear Chronicles)
• The Time-Ago Tales of Jadhu (1969)
• The Planet of Junior Brown (1971)
• M.C. Higgins, the Great (1975)
• Arilla Sun Down (1976)
• Justice And Her Brothers (1978)
• Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (1982)
• Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed (1983)
• The People Could Fly (1985)
• A White Romance (1987)
• The Mystery of Dies Drear (1987, part two of the two-part Dies Drear Chronicles)
• Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave (1988)
• Cousins (1990)
• Drylongso (1992)
• Plain City (1993)
• Second Cousins (1998)
• Bluish (1999)
• The Girl Who Spun Gold (2000)
• Carrying the Runaways

External links