Virginia Esther Hamilton (March 12, 1936 – February 19, 2002) was an American

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

author. She wrote 41 books, including '' M. C. Higgins, the Great'' (1974), for which she won the U.S. National Book Award in category Children's Books"National Book Awards – 1975"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

; retrieved 2012-02-21. and the

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

in 1975. Hamilton's lifetime achievements include the 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 writing children's literature in 1992 and the

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award The Children's Literature Legacy Award (known as the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal until 2018) is a prize awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to writers or illustrat ...

for her contributions to American children's literature in 1995.

Biography

Hamilton's family encouraged her to read and write widely. She received a full scholarship to

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

but later transferred to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

. She met poet

Arnold Adoff Arnold Adoff (July 16, 1935, in Bronx, New York – May 7, 2021, in Yellow Springs, Ohio) was 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 sai ...

while living in New York City, and married him in 1960. The two later returned with their children to live on the farm where Hamilton was raised. Adoff supported the family by working as a teacher, so Hamilton spent her time writing and had two children. In 1967, ''Zeely'' was published, the first of more than 40 books. ''Zeely'' was named an

American Library Association 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 ...

Notable Book and won the Nancy Bloch Award. Hamilton published ''

The Planet of Junior Brown ''The Planet of Junior Brown'', retitled ''Junior's Groove'' in some releases, is a 1997 Canadian drama film. Directed by Clement Virgo, the film was written by Virgo and Cameron Bailey as an adaptation of Virginia Hamilton's 1971 novel '' The Pla ...

'', which was named a Newbery Honor Book and also won the

Lewis Carroll Shelf Award The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was an American literary award conferred on several books annually by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education annually from 1958 to 1979. Award-winning books were deemed to "belong on the same shelf" ...

in 1971. '' M. C. Higgins, the Great'' (1974) won the Newbery Medal, making Hamilton the first black author to receive the medal. The book also won the National Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, the

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonfiction, and P ...

and ''The New York Times'' Outstanding Children's Book of the Year.Biography of Virginia Hamilton
biography.com. Accessed February 17, 2015.

Death

Hamilton died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

on February 19, 2002, in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...

, aged 65. Three books have been published posthumously: ''Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl'' (2003), '' Wee Winnie Witch's Skinny'' (2004), and ''Virginia Hamilton: Speeches, Essays, and Conversations'', edited by Arnold Adoff and Kacy Cook (2010).

Legacy

In 1979, the

Supersisters ''Supersisters'' was a set of 72 trading cards produced and distributed in the United States in 1979 by Supersisters, Inc. They featured famous women from politics, media and entertainment, culture, sports, and other areas of achievement. The c ...

trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Hamilton's name and picture. The Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth has been held at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

each year since 1984. The

established in 2010 the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award:

To recognize an African American author, illustrator, or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution. The Award pays tribute to the late Virginia Hamilton and the quality and magnitude of her exemplary contributions through her literature and advocacy for children and youth, especially in her focus on African American life, history and consciousness.

Her novel ''The Planet of Junior Brown'' was adapted for the 1997 film ''

'', directed by Clement Virgo. In 2021, the

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors ran ...

published a volume collecting five of her novels.

Awards

Hamilton was awarded the

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...

Award for Writing (the highest international recognition bestowed on an author or illustrator of children's literature), the

(which is now known as the Children's Literature Legacy Award) and the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to a ...

de Grummond Medal. In 1990 she received the Catholic Library Association's Regina Medal, given annually "for continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature". Hamilton was the first writer of children's works to be awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

, in 1995. Besides the 1975 National Book Award and Newbery Medal for '' M. C. Higgins, the Great'', Hamilton won several other awards for particular works, including the

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

, the

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 (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award r ...

, and the

.Virginia Hamilton – Awards and Honors
virginiahamilton.com; retrieved 2012-03-30.

Selected works

* '' Zeely'' (1967) * '' The House of Dies Drear'' (1968) —Dies Drear, part one * '' The Time-Ago Tales of Jadhu'' (1969) * ''

'' (1971) * W. E. B. Du Bois: A Biography (1972) * Time-Ago Lost: More Tales of Jahdu (1973) * '' M.C. Higgins, the Great'' (1974) * Paul Robeson: The Life and Times of a Free Black Man. (1974) * The Writings of W .E. B. Du Bois (1975) * ''

Arilla Sun Down ''Arilla Sun Down'' is a 1976 children's novel by Virginia Hamilton and is about the life experiences of Arilla, a young girl of African American and American Indian parentage. Reception A review of ''Arilla Sun Down'' in ''The Best in Children' ...

'' (1976) * '' Justice And Her Brothers'' (1978) - Justice Trilogy, book 1 * Dustland (1980) - Justice Trilogy, book 2 * Jahdu (1980) * The Gathering (1981) - Justice Trilogy, book 3 * '' Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush'' (1982) * '' Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed'' (1983) * The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl (1983) * A Little Love. (1984) * Junius over far (1985) * '' The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales'' (Illustrated by

Leo and Diane Dillon Leo Dillon (March 2, 1933 – May 26, 2012) and Diane Dillon (''née'' Sorber; born March 13, 1933) were American illustrators of children's books and adult paperback book and magazine covers. One obituary of Leo called the work of the hu ...

) (1985) * '' A White Romance'' (1987) * '' The Mystery of Drear House'' (1987) —Dies Drear, part two * '' In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World'' (Illustrated by

Barry Moser Barry Moser (born 1940) is an American artist and educator, known as a printmaker specializing in wood engravings, and an illustrator of numerous works of literature. He is also the owner and operator of the Pennyroyal Press, an engraving and smal ...

) (1988) * '' Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave'' (1988) * The Bells of Christmas (1989) * ''

Cousins Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

'' (1990) * The Dark Way: Stories from the Spirit World (1990) * The all Jahdu storybook (1991) * '' Drylongso'' (Illustrated by

Jerry Pinkney Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addresse ...

) (1992) * '' Plain City'' (1993) * Many Thousand Gone (1993) * '' Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales'' (Illustrated by

) (1995) * Jaguarundi (1995) * When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing: The Adventures of Bruh Sparrow, Sis Wren, and Their Friends (1996) * '' A Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from America, the West Indies, and Africa'' (Illustrated by

) (1997) * ''

Second Cousins Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

'' (1998) * '' Bluish'' (1999) * ''

The Girl Who Spun Gold ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (2000) * '' Time Pieces: The Book of Times'' (2001) * '' Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl'' (Illustrated by James Ransome) (2003) * '' Wee Winnie Witch's Skinny: An Original African American Scare Tale'' (Illustrated by

) (2004) * '' The People Could Fly: The Picture Book'' (Illustrated by

) (2005) * '' Virginia Hamilton: Speeches, Essays, and Conversations''. Edited by

and Kacy Cook (New York: Blue Sky Press/Scholastic Inc., 2010).

References

External links

* *
"Virginia Hamilton, Writer for Children, Is Dead at 65"
Margalit Fox, ''The New York Times'', February 20, 2002
"Hans Christian Andersen Award 1992"
IBBY — pages 5–6 cover Hamilton (images 7–8) *
Virginia Hamilton papers
at the

Special Collections and Archives
Virginia Hamilton papers
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Virginia African-American children's writers American non-fiction children's writers American women children's writers American children's writers American folklorists Women folklorists Folklore writers Historians of African Americans African-American novelists American women novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Edgar Award winners Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing winners Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal winners MacArthur Fellows Newbery Medal winners Newbery Honor winners National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners Antioch College alumni People from Yellow Springs, Ohio Deaths from cancer in Ohio Deaths from breast cancer 1936 births 2002 deaths Place of birth missing