Biographical Info About Authors in ABFFE Author Auction

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Judy Blume is one of the best loved -- and most frequently censored -- authors. Her novels for both kids and adults have sold over 75 million copies, including Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Superfudge; Blubber; Just As Long as We're Together; Forever; and, most recently, Summer Sisters. Her new book, Double Fudge, will be published by Dutton in September.

Katie Davis is the very popular author and illustrator of Who Hops? (Harcourt, 1998), an award-winning book for young children that was a selection of both the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club and the Junior Library Guild. It was followed by I Hate to Go to Bed! (1999) Who Hoots? (2000), and Scared Stiff (2001). Her forthcoming book from Harcourt is Party Animals (September).

Claudia Dreifus is nationally renowned for her interviews with the world's leading artists, entertainers, politicians, and spiritual leaders -- including the Dalai Lama, Benazir Bhutto, Colin Powell, and Toni Morrison. Studs Terkel has called her "a nonpareil of interviewers." A senior fellow at the World Policy Institute of the New School for Social Research, Dreifus is currently a writer for the "Science Times" section of the New York Times. Her latest book is Scientific Conversations: Interviews on Science from the New York Times (Times Books/Henry Holt, 2001).

Pete Hamill is one of the country's most distinguished journalists. Currently on the staff of The New Yorker magazine, Hamill has covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon, and Northern Ireland. He has been a columnist for the New York Post, the Daily News, and New York Newsday. He is also the author of eight novels, including Snow in August, two collections of short stories, and a bestselling memoir, A Drinking Life.

Ron Insana is one of the country's leading financial journalists. The co-anchor with Sue Herera of CNBC's signature program, Business Center, Insana is a regular contributor to NBC's Today Show, The Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and Imus in the Morning. He was nominated for a Golden ACE Award for his role in covering the 1987 stock market crash. In 1999, Mr. Insana was named one of the top 100 business news journalists of the century by TJFR Group. He is the author of The Message of the Markets (HarperBusiness, 2000) and Traders' Tales (John Wiley, 1996). His forthcoming book is Trendspotting, also from Harper Business.

Songwriter and comedy writer Alan Katz is the author of Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs (McElderberry Books), a finalist for the Book Sense Book of the Year Award. Katz has been a print and television comedy writer for more than 20 years. He has written television comedy for both children and adults and has received multiple Emmy nominations for his work on The Rosie O’Donnell Show. His next book is I'm Still Here in the Bathtub: More Silly Dilly Songs. Like Take Me Out of the Bathtub, it will be illustrated by David Catrow.

Leonard Marcus is a renowned historian of children’s literature as well as a editor, critic and author. His recent works include Side by Side: Five Favorite Picture Books Teams Go to Work, Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon and Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom.

Michael Moore is the author of Stupid White Men ... And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation (HarperCollins) and the director of the award-winning documentary, Roger and Me, the largest-grossing nonfiction film of all time. His previous books were the best-selling Downsize This! and Adventures in a TV Nation, which he co-authored with Kathleen Glynn.

Author and illustrator Chris Raschka’s hip and delightful books include the Caldecott-winner Yo! Yes?, Table Manners, Charlie Parker Played Be Bop, Another Important Book (by Margaret Wise Brown), and Arlene, the Sardine.

Roger Rosenblatt is the award-winning essayist and senior writer for Time, whose work also appears in the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, New Republic and Men's Journal. He is the author of five books, including the recent Life Itself: Abortion in the American Mind. His new book, Where We Stand: 30 Reasons for Loving Our Country, will be published by Harcourt Brace in June.

Peter Sis is the author and illustrator of Tibet: Through the Red Box, which won the Caldecott Honor and is based on a true story involving his father. Sis is the gifted creator of many bestselling works for children, including Starry Messenger (another Caldecott winner), Madlenka, and The Three Golden Keys.

Master of wacky mirth, Jon Scieszka is best known for his offbeat retelling of the story of the three little pigs, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. He won the Caldecott for The Stinky Cheese Man. His other well-known works include The Time Warp Trio series, Math Curse, and Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables. He is the founder of the "Guys Read" program, www.Guysread.com.

Robert Sabuda is the master of pop-up engineering. His The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Commemorative Pop-Up is a New York Times bestseller. His best known works include The Christmas Alphabet, The Movable Mother Goose, Young Naturalist Pop-Up Handbook: Butterflies, and Young Naturalist Pop-Up Handbook: Beetles. He has been featured on Martha Stewart’s television show.

Author and illustrator Vera B. Williams is one of the most beloved children’s authors. She has received Caldecotts for A Chair for My Mother and More, More, More Said the Baby: 3 Love Stories. Among her other well-known works are the recent Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart: The Story of Amber and Essie, Told Here in Poems and Pictures, Something Special for Me, and Cherries and Cherry Pits.

Paul O. Zelinsky is an award-winning illustrator of children's books. His works include Rapunzel, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1998, The Wheels on the Bus, and Swamp Angel (by Anne Isaacs). He has also illustrated three novels by Beverly Cleary, including Ralph S. Mouse.