Katherine Paterson

Early life

Katherine Womeldorf was born in Huai'an, Jiangsu, China, to Christian Missionaries Rev. G. (George) Raymond and Mary Womeldorf. Her father was a principal at Sutton 690, a school for girls, and traveled throughout China as part of his missionary duties. The Womeldorf family lived in a Chinese neighborhood and immersed themselves in Chinese culture. When Katherine was five years old, the family was forced to leave China during the Japanese invasion of 1937. The family moved to Richmond, Virginia, for a short while before returning to China to live in Shanghai. In 1940, the family was forced to flee again, this time to North Carolina.

The Womeldorf family moved 13 times between 1937 and 1950 because of Rev. Womeldorf's work and also because of the war in China.

Higher Education

Paterson's first language was Chinese, and she initially experienced difficulty reading and writing English. She overcame these challenges and, in 1954, graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English from King College in Bristol, Tennessee. She then spent a year teaching at a rural elementary school in Virginia before going to graduate school. She received a master's degree from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (Richmond, VA), where she studied Bible and Christian education. Paterson had hoped to be a missionary in China, but its borders were closed to western citizens. A Japanese friend pushed her to go to Japan instead, where she worked as a missionary and Christian education assistant. While in Japan, Paterson studied both Japanese and Chinese culture, which influenced much of her subsequent writing.

Writing years

Paterson began her professional career in the Presbyterian Church by teaching Sunday school for fifth and sixth grade parochial students.

In 1966, she wrote the religious education book Who Am I?. While continuing to write, she was unable to get any of her novels published. After being persuaded, Paterson took an adult education course in creative writing during which her first novel was published. Her first children's novel, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, was published in 1973. It is a work of historical fiction, set in the Japanese medieval period; it is based on Paterson's studies in Japan. Bridge to Terabithia, her most widely read work, was published in 1977. Terabithia was highly controversial due to some of the difficult themes. Bridge to Terabithia is among the most popular books she has written.

Some of her other books also feature difficult themes such as the death of a loved one.

Recent years

Katherine Paterson is currently vice-president of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a non-profit organization that advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries. Paterson lives in Barre, Vermont. Her husband John Barstow Paterson, a retired Presbyterian pastor died in 2013. She has four children and seven grandchildren.

On April 28, 2005, Paterson dedicated a tree in memory of Lisa Hill (her son David's childhood friend who became the inspiration for Bridge to Teribithia) to Takoma Park Elementary School. Paterson still does school visits but chooses to stick to schools that are close to her Vermont home. In 2006, she released Bread and Roses, Too. She was inspired to write this book after seeing a photograph of 35 children taken on the steps of the Old Socialist Labor Hall in Barre captioned, "Children of Lawrence Massachusetts, Bread and Roses Strike come to Barre".

She has written a play version of the story by Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. It was performed at a conference of the Beatrix Potter Society in Fresno, CA in April 2009.

In January 2010, Paterson replaced Jon Scieszka as the Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a two-year position created to raise national awareness of the importance of lifelong literacy and education.

In January 2013, Paterson received the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association, which recognizes a living author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children". Citing Bridge to Terabithia in particular, the committee noted that "Paterson's unflinching yet redemptive treatment of tragedy and loss helped pave the way for ever more realistic writing for young people."

Writing style

In Paterson's novels, her youthful protagonists face crises by which they learn to triumph through self-sacrifice. Paterson, unlike many other authors of young adult novels, tackles themes often considered to be adult, such as death and jealousy. Although her characters face dire situations, Paterson writes with compassion and empathy. Amidst her writing of misery and strife, Paterson interlaces her writing with wry wit and understated humor. After facing tumultuous events, her characters prevail in triumph and redeem themselves and their ambitions. Paterson's protagonists are usually orphaned or estranged children with only a few friends who must face difficult situations largely on their own. Paterson's plots may reflect her own childhood in which she felt estranged and lonely.

Awards

The Hans Christian Andersen and Astrid Lindgren Awards are the two major international awards recognizing career contributions to children's literature. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award is the highest honor from U.S. professional librarians for contributions to American children's literature.

Paterson has also won many annual awards for new books, including the National Book Award (The Master Puppeteer, 1977; The Great Gilly Hopkins, 1979); the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award (Master Puppeteer, 1977); the Newbery Medal (Bridge to Terabithia, 1977; Jacob Have I Loved, 1981); the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction (Jip, His Story, 1996). Twenty years after its publication, Of Nightingales That Weep won the 1994 Phoenix Award as the best 1974 children's book that did not win a major contemporary award.

Adaptations

Bridge to Terabithia has been adapted into film twice, the 1985 PBS version and the 2007 Disney/Walden Media co-production version. One of the producers and screenwriters for the later version was Paterson's son David L. Paterson, whose name appears on the dedication page of the novel.

Another of her novels, The Great Gilly Hopkins was adapted into a film, written by David L. Paterson, in 2015. Her fantasy-novel release The Flint Heart has been optioned by Bedrock Films.