Gary D. Schmidt writes children's non-fiction, and young adult novels, which he types out on a 1953 Royal typewriter.
He attended Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, then went on to graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning an MA in English literature and a PhD in medieval literature.
This author has written over 30 books: textbooks, picture books, biographies, fantasies, folk tales, and historical fiction. His books have twice won a Newbery Honor: for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (which also won the Printz Honor) in 2005, and for The Wednesday Wars in 2008.
When asked, in a Publisher's Weekly interview on 5/3/2007, if the awards won for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy changed his life, Mr. Schmidt answered, in part:
"...I've got some responsibilities to my audience, and I need to take that responsibility very, very seriously because what I want to talk to them about are things like hope, and community, and you can't be screwing around when you're talking to kids about hope."
Besides his children's author duties, Mr. Schmidt is also a full-time professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He lives on a 150 year old farm in Michigan with his wife and six children.
Sources:
Gary D. Schmidt* My apologies - this link seems to no longer work as of 4/17/2012
