Norma Fox Mazer (1931–2009)

Norma Fox grew up in Glens Falls, New York, surrounded by her mother’s extended family of Russian-Jewish immigrants. She decided to become a writer by age 12 or 13. She attended Antioch College briefly, but dropped out to get married in 1950 to Harry Mazer, with whom she had four children. Norma Fox Mazer began her literary career as a young mother. She and her husband wrote stories that were published in True Confessions, True Story, and other pulp fiction magazines. Within a few years, they started writing young adult novels, some of them together. Norma Fox Maser was one of the pioneering writers -- along with Judy Blume, Norma Klein, and a few others -- who defined the field of young adult literature in the 1970s. Her novels featured appealing young characters facing difficult situations, such as family separation and death. She wrote a total of 33 books and won many awards, among them a Newbery Medal, the Christopher Award, two Lewis Carroll Shelf Awards, an Edgar, and a National Book Award nomination. In 1997, Norma Fox Mazer joined the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, teaching writing for young adults and children in the MFA program. She also served as faculty chair. She also taught at the National Book Foundation summer writing camp. Norma and Harry lived for many years in upstate New York, commuting between Jamesville and New York City. She spent the final years of her life in Montpelier, Vermont.