Vera B. Williams

Vera B. Williams, born in 1927, didn't illustrate her first picture book until 1975. But her path towards an artistic career began much earlier, when she was growing up in New York City in the 1930s and 40s. At the Bronx House, a local community center, she acted, danced, and painted. When Williams was 9 years old, one of her paintings was included in a WPA exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. She later graduated from New York City's High School of Music and Art, and then graduated from the Black Mountain School in North Carolina with a degree in graphic arts.

Williams has pursued a wide variety of personal and professional interests throughout her life. She raised three children; she helped found an alternative community and school in New York; she ran a bakery in Ontario, canoed down 500 miles of the Yukon River, and has contributed her talents and time to political organization and activism. Williams' life experiences, love of children, and social conscience shine through her fine collection of books for young readers.

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