Charlotte Zolotow author page

Charlotte Zolotow biography

Charlotte Zolotow was a children’s book editor, publisher and author. She was born Charlotte Shapiro in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1915, and she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a writing scholarship in the early 1930s. In 1938, she began work at Harper & Brothers as a secretary and became editorial assistant to Ursula Nordstrom. Her career at Harper developed into senior publishing roles, including vice-president and associate publisher of the children’s division, and she later had the imprint Charlotte Zolotow Books.

Zolotow wrote more than 70 books for children, with picture books forming a major part of her work. Her first picture book was The Park Book, illustrated by H. A. Rey, published in 1944. Her books include Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, William’s Doll, illustrated by William Pène du Bois, My Grandson Lew, illustrated by William Pène du Bois, and In My Garden, originally illustrated by Roger Duvoisin.

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1963. As an editor, Zolotow worked with writers including Patricia MacLachlan, Francesca Lia Block, Paul Fleischman, Paul Zindel, M. E. Kerr and John Steptoe. She retired in 1991 and received the title publisher emeritus.

In 1998, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison established the Charlotte Zolotow Award, an annual prize for the best picture book text published in the United States. The same year, the centre began the Charlotte Zolotow Lecture. Zolotow died in 2013 at the age of 98.