Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry is an American writer credited with more than thirty childrens books. She has won two Newbery Medals, for Number the Stars in 1990 and The Giver in 1994. For her contribution as a childrens writer, she was a finalist in 2000 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of childrens books. Her book Gooney Bird Greene won the 2002 Rhode Island Childrens Book Award. In 2007 she received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her contribution in writing for teens. In 2011 she gave the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture her lecture was titled UNLEAVING The Staying Power of Gold . She was also awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Brown University in 2014.

Lowry was born on March 20, 1937, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to parents Katherine Gordon Landis and Robert E. Hammersberg. Her father was of Norwegian descent and her mother had German, English, and ScotsIrish ancestry. Initially, Lowrys parents named her Cena for her Norwegian grandmother but upon hearing this, her grandmother telegraphed and instructed Lowrys parents that the child should have an American name. Her parents chose the names Lois and Ann, which were the names of her fathers sisters.

Source: Wikipedia