Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth (May 31, 1893 – August 31, 1986) was an American writer of fiction and poetry for children and adults. She won the 1931 Newbery Medal from the

American Library Association award The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

recognizing ''

The Cat Who Went to Heaven ''The Cat Who Went to Heaven'' is a 1930 novel by Elizabeth Coatsworth that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1931. The story is set in ancient Japan, and is about a penniless artist and a calico cat his ...

'' as the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." In 1968 she was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial international

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

for children's writers.

Life

Elizabeth Coatsworth was born May 31, 1893, to Ida Reid and William T. Coatsworth, a prosperous

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike ...

in Buffalo, New York. She attended

Buffalo Seminary Buffalo Seminary (SEM) is an independent, private, college preparatory day and boarding school for girls in Buffalo, New York, United States. SEM is secular and non-uniform. Accreditations and memberships SEM is an accredited member of the N ...

, a private girls' school, and spent summers with her family on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie. She began traveling as a child, visiting the Alps and Egypt at age five.Cech, John (editor), ''Dictionary of Literary Biographies: American Writers for Children, 1900–1960'', Gale Research, 1983, volume 22 Coatsworth graduated from Vassar College in 1915 as Salutatorian. In 1916 she received a Master of Arts from Columbia University. She then traveled to eastern Asia, riding horseback through the Philippines, exploring Indonesia and China, and sleeping in a Buddhist monastery. These travels would later influence her writing. In 1929, she married writer Henry Beston, with whom she had two daughters, Margaret and Catherine. They lived at Hingham, Massachusetts, and

Chimney Farm Chimney Farm is a historic farm property at 617 East Neck Road in Nobleboro, Maine. The heart of the farm is an early 19th-century farmhouse, which was from 1931 to their respective deaths home to the writers Henry Beston (1888–1968) and El ...

in Nobleboro, Maine. Her daughter,

Kate Barnes Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American auth ...

(1932–2013), would go on to become accomplished in writing in her own right, being named the first Poet Laureate of Maine. Elizabeth Coatsworth died at her home in Nobleboro, August 31, 1986. Her papers are held in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota and Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine,Chevalier, Tracy (editor), 'Twentieth-Century Children's Writers'', St. James Press, 1989, pp. 218 with a small archive from late in her career in the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. There is also a collection of her papers at the Maine Women Writers Collection held at the University of New England, Portland, Maine.

Career

Coatsworth began her career publishing her poetry in magazines. Her first book was a poetry collection for adults, ''Fox Footprints'', in 1912. A conversation with her friend, Louise Seaman, who had just founded the first children's book publishing department in the United States at Macmillan, led Coatsworth to write her first children's book, ''The Cat and the Captain''. In 1930 ''The Cat Who Went to Heaven'' appeared. The story of an artist who is painting a picture of Buddha for a group of monks, it won the Newbery Medal for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". ''Nineteenth-Century Children's Writers'' says "Coatsworth reached her apogee in her nature writing, notably ''The Incredible Tales''". These four books were published for adults in the 1950s. They tell the story of the Perdrys, a family living in the forests of northern Maine who may not be entirely human. Coatsworth had a long career, publishing over 90 books from 1910 to her autobiography and final book in 1976.

Selected works

For children

*''The Cat and the Captain'', illustrated by Gertrude Kaye, Macmillan, 1927 *''

'', ill. Lynd Ward, Macmillan, 1930 *''The Golden Horseshoe'', ill. Robert Lawson, Macmillan, 1935 *''Sword of the Wilderness'', ill. Harve Stein, Macmillan, 1936 *''Alice-All-by-Herself'', ill. Marguerite de Angeli, Macmillan, 1937 *''Dancing Tom'', ill.

Grace Paull Grace A. Paull (1898–1990) was an American artist, illustrator, and author. She designed greeting cards, illustrated children's books, and painted people, landscapes and flowers. Life and career Paull was born in 1898 in Cold Brook, New York ...

, Macmillan, 1938 *''You Shall have a Carriage'', ill. Henry Clarence Pitz, Macmillan, 1941 *''Runaway Home'', ill. Gustaf Tenggren, Row, Peterson and Company, 1942 *''Indian Mound Farm'', ill.

Fermin Rocker Fermin Rocker (22 December 1907 – 18 October 2004) was a British painter and book illustrator. He was the son of the anarcho-syndicalist theorist and activist Rudolf Rocker, a German, who had moved to London 1895, and Milly Witkop, a Ukrainian ...

, Macmillan, 1943 *''Up Hill and Down: Stories'', ill. James Davis, Knopf, 1947 *''Night and the Cat'', ill.

Foujita was a Japanese–French painter and printmaker born in Tokyo, Japan, who applied Japanese ink techniques to Western style paintings. At the height of his fame in Paris, during the 1920s, he was known for his portraits of nudes using an opalesce ...

, Macmillan, 1950 *''Dollars for Luck'', ill. George and Doris Hauman, Macmillan, 1951; reissued 1972 as ''The Sailing Hatrack'', Blackie (UK) *''Cat Stories'', ill. Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky, Simon & Schuster, 1953 *''Dog Stories'', ill. Rojankovsky, Simon & Schuster, 1953 *''Old Whirlwind: The Story of

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Re ...

'', ill. Manning Lee, Macmillan, 1953 *''Horse Stories'', by Kate Barnes and Coatsworth, ill. Rojankovsky, Simon & Schuster, 1954 *''The Peddler's Cart'', ill. Zhenya Gay, Macmillan, 1956 *''Pika and the Roses'', ill.

Kurt Wiese Kurt Wiese (April 22, 1887 – May 27, 1974) was a German-born book illustrator, who wrote and illustrated 20 children's books and illustrated another 300 for other authors. Background Kurt Wiese was born on April 22, 1887, in Minden, Germa ...

, Pantheon, 1959 *''Lonely Maria'', ill. Evaline Ness, Pantheon, 1960 *''The Noble Doll'', ill.

Leo Politi Atiglio Leoni Politi (November 21, 1908 – March 26, 1996) was an American artist and author who wrote and illustrated some 20 children's books, as well as ''Bunker Hill, Los Angeles'' (1964), intended for adults. His works often celebrated cu ...

, Viking, 1961 *''Chimney Farm Bedtime Stories'', by Henry Beston and Coatsworth, ill. Maurice Day, Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1966 *''The Lucky Ones: Five Journeys Toward a Home'', ill. Janet Doyle, Macmillan, 1968 *''Under the Green Willow'', ill

Janina Domanska Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the ...

, Macmillan, 1971 *''The Wanderers'', ill. Trina Schart Hyman,

Scholastic Scholastic may refer to: * a philosopher or theologian in the tradition of scholasticism * ''Scholastic'' (Notre Dame publication) * Scholastic Corporation, an American publishing company of educational materials * Scholastic Building, in New Y ...

, 1972 *''Pure Magic'', ill. Ingrid Fetz, Macmillan 1973; reissued 1975 as ''The Werefox'', Collier (US), and ''The Fox Boy'', Blackie (UK) *''Marra's World'', ill. Krystyna Turska, Greenwillow, 1975 ;Sally series The five historical novels featuring "Sally" were all illustrated by

Helen Sewell Helen Sewell (June 27, 1896 – February 24, 1957) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. She was a runner-up for the 1955 Caldecott Medal as illustrator of ''The Thanksgiving Story'' by Alice Dalgliesh and she illustrated sev ...

and published by Macmillan US. *''Away Goes Sally'', 1934 *''Five Bushel Farm'', 1938 *''The Fair American '',1940 *''The White Horse '', 1942 *''The Wonderful Day'', 1946

For adults

;Novels *''Here I Stay'', Coward McCann, 1938 *''The Trunk'', Macmillan, 1941 ;The Incredible Tales *''The Enchanted'', Pantheon, 1951 *''Silky: An Incredible Tale'', Pantheon, 1953 *''Mountain Bride: An Incredible Tale'', Pantheon 1954 *''The White Room'', Pantheon, 1958 ;Poetry *''Fox Footprints'', Knopf, 1923, poetry *''Country Poems'', Macmillan, 1942 *''The Creaking Stair'', Coward McCann, 1949 ;Other *''The Sun's Diary: A Book of Days for Any Year'', Macmillan, 1929 *''Country Neighborhood'', Macmillan, 1945 *''Maine Ways'', Macmillan, 1947 *''Especially Maine: The Natural World of Henry Beston from Cape Cod to the St. Lawrence''; (editor), Stephen Greene, 1970 *''Personal Geography: Almost an Autobiography'', Stephen Greene, 1976

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coatsworth, Elizabeth American children's writers American nature writers American women poets American women novelists Newbery Medal winners 1893 births 1986 deaths Buffalo Seminary alumni Vassar College alumni People from Nobleboro, Maine Writers from Buffalo, New York 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets American women children's writers Women science writers 20th-century American women writers Novelists from New York (state) American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers