Karla Kuskin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Karla Seidman (1932-07-17)July 17, 1932 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 20, 2009(2009-08-20) (aged 77) Seattle,Washington |
| Pen name | Nicholas J. Charles |
| Occupation | Author, illustrator, poet |
| Education | Antioch College Yale University |
| Genre | Children's Literature |
| Notable works | Roar and More In the Middle of the Trees ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ The Rose on My Cake Soap Soup and Other Verses |
| Notable awards | National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry[1] |
| Spouse | Charles M. Kuskin (m. 1955–1979) William L. Bell, Jr. (m. 1989) |
| Children | Nicholas and Julia[2] |
Karla Kuskin (née Seidman) (July 17,1932 – August 20,2009) was a prolific American author, poet, illustrator, and reviewer of children's literature.[2] Kuskin was known for her poetic, alliterative style.[3]
She sometimes wrote under the pseudonymNicholas J. Charles. Kuskin reviewed children's literature inThe New York Times Book Review.
Born in 1932 inManhattan, New York, Karla Seidman was the only child of Sidney and Mitzi Seidman, and was raised inGreenwich Village,New York City.
She attended theLittle Red School House, followed byElisabeth Irwin High School. She then attendedAntioch College in 1950–53, and transferred toYale University where she studied with, among others,Josef Albers,Herbert Matter andAlvin Eisenman. She earned her B.F.A in graphic design in 1955 from Yale.
Before working as a full-time author, she worked as an assistant to a fashion photographer, a design assistant, and in advertising. Her first book,Roar and More (Harper, 1956), came out of her senior graphic arts project at Yale to design and print a book on a small press.[2]
Kuskin wrotePaul in 1994, with paintings byMilton Avery, which had originally been created for an abandoned children's book, to go with a (now lost) story by writerH. R. Hays, nearly thirty years after the painter's death.
Her autobiography,Thoughts, Pictures, and Words, with photographs by her son Nicholas, was published in 1995.
She lived and worked inBrooklyn for most of her life, moving toBainbridge Island, Washington, then settling inSeattle at the end of her life.
In August 2009, Kuskin died ofcorticobasal degeneration in Seattle, at age 77.[4]
She was married to Charles M. Kuskin,oboist, from 1955–1979, and in 1989 married William L. Bell, Jr., a lawyer with theCenter for Naval Analyses.
Kuskin both wrote and illustrated nearly half of the books credited to her.[5]
