Maira Kalman

Maira Kalman
Kalman at the 2010 Texas Book Festival
Born	1949 (age 67–68) Tel Aviv, Israel
Nationality	American
Known for	Illustrator, writer
Website	MairaKalman.com

Maira Kalman (Hebrew: מאירה קלמן‎‎; born 1949) is an Israeli-born American illustrator, writer, artist, and designer. Her work most widely held in WorldCat libraries is Fireboat: the heroic adventures of the John J. Harvey, a picture book she both wrote and illustrated. It won the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction in 2003.

Born in Tel Aviv, Kalman came to New York City with her family at age 4. She attended the High School of Music & Art, now LaGuardia High School, where she studied Art.

Kalman has written a series of children's books about Max Stravinsky, the poet-dog. She has done covers for The New Yorker, including one she did with Rick Meyerowitz called New Yorkistan. She created the sets for the Mark Morris Dance Group production of Four Saints in Three Acts, an opera by Virgil Thompson and Gertrude Stein.

Kalman is also known for her illustrations for the 2005 edition of The Elements of Style, the popular guide to writing style, by William Strunk and E. B. White.

Ms. Kalman wrote the monthly illustrated blog The Principles of Uncertainty for the New York Times for one year, ending in April 2007. The blog was published in a book of the same title, which was released in 2007 to critical acclaim. During 2009, Kalman wrote another illustrated blog in the New York Times called "And the Pursuit of Happiness" about American democracy. The blog was published as a book in 2010. The first chapter chronicles her visit to Washington, D.C. for President Barack Obama's inauguration. Kalman's work is also featured on Rosenbach Museum and Library's 21st Century Abe project.