Personal Information:E.L. Konisburg was born February 10, 1930, in New York City. She spent her childhood in growing up in the small mill towns of Pennsylvania. Her family was poor but she really wanted to attend college, so she devised a plan to combine part-time jobs, scholarships, and work-study opportunities to pay for school. She attended Carnegie Mellon University where she earned a B.S. in Chemistry. She then married David Konigsburg in 1952 and together they moved to Florida, where she taught science for several years in an all-girls school. Konigsburg left teaching when the first of her three children was born and she became a full time mother. In 1962, the family moved to New York City and, with all her children in school, Konigsburg began her writing career. She says that she read all her work to her children first. If they liked it, she would continue. But if they didn’t find it interesting, she would revise and rewrite. She is now 77 years old and lives on the beach in North Florida. She continues to write and publish.
Books:
Her first two books were published in 1967 and were a phenomenal success. The first, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, was a Newbery Honor Book. Her second book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, won the Newbery Medal the same year! Konigsburg is the only author to have two books on the Newbury list in the same year (1968). She also drew the illustrations for these books. Kongisburg won a second Newbery Medal in 1997 for The View From Saturday, 29 years later, the longest span between any two Newberys awarded to one author. She has published more than 20 books for children and 2 books for adults and won numerous other awards. Her most recent book was just published in 2007 and is titled, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World.
Her first two books were published in 1967 and were a phenomenal success. The first, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, was a Newbery Honor Book. Her second book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, won the Newbery Medal the same year! Konigsburg is the only author to have two books on the Newbury list in the same year (1968). She also drew the illustrations for these books. Kongisburg won a second Newbery Medal in 1997 for The View From Saturday, 29 years later, the longest span between any two Newberys awarded to one author. She has published more than 20 books for children and 2 books for adults and won numerous other awards. Her most recent book was just published in 2007 and is titled, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World.
