Russell Freedman - About the Author
Russell Freedman grew up in San Francisco and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. After serving with the Second Infantry Division during the Korean War, he worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press, and later as a publicist for several network television shows. His first book, Teenagers Who Made History, was published in 1961. Since then he has been a full-time writer.
Mr. Freedman has received numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal, two Newbery Honors, and the Laura Ingalls Medal for "a lasting and substantial contribution to children's books." The author of more than forty nonfiction books on subjects ranging from American history to animal behavior, he lives in New York City and travels widely to gather material for his books.
Russell Freedman says:
"It seems that I was predestined to become a writer. My parents met in a bookshop and held their first conversation over a stack of best-sellers. She was a salesclerk, and he was the West Coast representative of a large publishing house. They married soon afterward, and I grew up in a house filled with books and with the lively conversations and disputes of visiting authors.
"When I went to work as a cub reporter for the Associated Press, I learned to meet deadlines and respect facts. Later, as a television publicity writer, I learned that if you fail to capture and hold a reader's interest, you're just blowing in the wind.
"Today I enjoy studying and writing about subjects that for some reason excite my curiosity, enthusiasm, or concern. Starting a new book is like trying to solve a puzzle. You have to decide what to include and what to leave out, how to begin, what to emphasize and where, how to balance facts and interpretation, how to breathe life into the subject and convey your own enthusiasm to the reader. The process of viewing the material, of seeing what belongs where, is a mystery I never resolve once and for all.
"Like every other writer, a nonfiction writer is essentially a storyteller. Whatever my subject, I always feel that I have a story to tell that is worth telling, and so I want to tell it as clearly and simply and effectively as I can, in a way that will stretch the reader's imagination and make that reader care."
--Courtesy of Holiday House
