James Thurber (1894–1961) was born in Columbus, Ohio. After dropping out of college, he became a successful reporter, first for The Columbus Dispatch and later for the New York Evening Post. In 1927, after rejecting countless submissions, The New Yorker published one of Thurber’s short pieces. Not long after, he met E.B. White, who helped him get a job as an editor there; White also encouraged Thurber to use his own drawings to illustrate his first book, the best-selling satire Is Sex Necessary? Thurber didn’t last long in his editorial job, but he continued publishing sketches and “Talk of the Town” pieces for The New Yorker until his death. Among his nearly forty books are The Owl in the Attic, Fables for Our Time, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and A Thurber Carnival, which was adapted for the stage, winning a Tony Award in 1960. Thurber also wrote five books for children: Many Moons (1943), a Caldecott Honor Book; The Great Quillow (1944); The White Deer (1945); The 13 Clocks (1950); and The Wonderful O (1957), which is available from The New York Review Children’s Collection.
Marc Simont (1915–2013) was born in Paris, the child of Catalan immigrants. He studied art with his father, a professional illustrator, and at several schools in France and America, where he moved when he was nineteen. Simont illustrated nearly one hundred books, working with authors such as Margaret Wise Brown, James Thurber, and Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (on the Nate the Great series). He is also the author of several books and the translator of poems by García Lorca and others. Simont received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations to A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry. He collaborated with Ruth Krauss on The Backward Day (also published by The New York Review Children’s Collection) and The Happy Day, a Caldecott Honor Book.
Neil Gaiman is an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and graphic novels. Among his works are the children’s books Coraline, The Wolves in the Walls, and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish; the Sandman graphic novel series; and the fantasy novels Stardust and Neverwhere. Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States.
