Unforgettable Picture Books
Leonard
Marcus of New York City tells us that his commitment to children’s books was
inspired by the realization “that the best ones were written in a wonderfully
compressed and animated form of poetry. I wondered why children’s books weren't
discussed more often as the kind of literature they clearly were.”
Marcus has since become a trusted critic and historian of that genre. He’s written for every issue of Parenting since it began in 1987 and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Publishers Weekly, and other publications. He appears regularly on national TV and radio and has organized exhibits on children’s books and their illustration at the New York Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, and many colleges and museums.
His many books include a biography of the creator of Goodnight Moon called Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon, and a book on one of the most influential editors of children’s books, Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom.
Marcus
was one of the people Jean Nathan consulted when she took on the challenge
of writing about the late Dare Wright, the controversial, glamorous and
enigmatic author of The Lonely Doll and other books written from 1957 through
the '70s. The final product won this praise from him: "Jean Nathan has given us
a haunting portrait of a haunted and heartbreaking creative life," he said. "Here
is proof, if ever any was needed, that the children's books that last are those
born not of lovely thoughts but of childhood's innermost necessities."
Artist Cindy Sherman was also among those who were impressed. "Although I never read The Lonely Doll as a child or saw Dare Wright's photographs, it's as if somehow I did," she said. "Nathan has done an amazing job to capture Wright's life on the page and to bring us into the household of one of the saddest dysfunctional families ever."
Nathan has been a staff writer for The New York Observer, a senior editor at Connoisseur magazine, and a writer for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Travel & Leisure, and Vogue. The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright is her first book.
Leonard
Marcus photo by Lynn Saville
Jean Nathan photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
All readings include a question & answer period and a reception with books by the author(s) for sale.
Suggested
Donation: $5 ($3 for HVWC members and those under age 18)
The readings at the HVWC are made possible in part by a grant from the Bydale Foundation; the David G. Taft Foundation; the Orchard Foundation; and the Thendara Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and by Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government, corporations and individuals.