Kate DiCamillo | |
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DiCamillo at the 2014 National Book Festival
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Born | Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo March 25, 1964 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Children's fiction |
Notable works | |
Notable awards |
Newbery Medal 2004, 2014 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature 2014–15 |
Website | |
katedicamillo |
Katrina Elizabeth "Kate" DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American writer of children's fiction for all reading levels, usually featuring animals. She is one of six people to win two Newbery Medals, recognizing her novels The Tale of Despereaux (2003) and Flora and Ulysses (2013). Her best-known books for young children are Mercy Watson series illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.
DiCamillo was the U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, appointed by the Library of Congress for the term comprising 2014 and 2015.
DiCamillo won the American Association Newbery Medal recognizing the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" in 2004 for The Tale of Desperaux and again in 2014 for Flora & Ulysses; only six writers have won two of the annual medals introduced in 1922. She won the 2000 Josette Frank Award for Because of Winn-Dixie and the 2006 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award in the children's fiction category for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. She, co-writer Alison McGhee, and illustrator Tony Fucile won the ALA Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal in 2011 recognizing Bink and Gollie as the previous year's "most distinguished book for beginning readers".
In 2012 Winn-Dixie was ranked number 30 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. Despereaux (51) and Edward Tulane (59) also made the Top 100 list.