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Lois Lowry biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Lois Lowry
Photo: Kate Philbrick

Lois Lowry

How to pronounce Lois Lowry: lois: first syllable rhymes with sew. Lowry: first syllable rhymes with now

Lois Lowry Biography

Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer. She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. After several years at Brown University, she turned to her family and to writing. She is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader’s Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver. Her first novel, A Summer to Die, was awarded the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine.

Lois Lowry's website

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Interview

Two times Newbery Award winner, Lois Lowry chats about what inspired her to write Gossamer and which characters she most identifies with.

What were your inspirations for Gossamer?

I'm so interested, always, in how the bits and pieces of our lives go together, how they form a narrative, and how important they are to us. My son died when his little girl was not yet two. She's twelve now, and she asks me often, ‘Tell me stories about my dad when he was little.' She giggles at the when-your-dad-was-naughty stories. But she knows intuitively that the narrative of his life is also a valuable part of her own.

Of course, I dealt with that, the importance of our memories, in a book called The Giver, and in the personal memoir called Looking Back, as well. But thoughts about memory were haunting me, still, when I sat down to write the book that would be called Gossamer.

Do you remember your dreams?


Some. Especially those that recur. I even have a favorite, in fact: so much so that when it recurs I actually think—while deep asleep—"Oh, great, this dream again! I love it!" But at the same time, I suppose that, like most people, most of what I dream disappears on waking. If that weren't true, the whole concept of dreams would not be so endlessly fascinating and mysterious.

(I'd tell you what that ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Lois Lowry at BookBrowse
Son jacket The Birthday Ball jacket Crow Call jacket The Willoughbys jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Lois Lowry but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Jeanne Birdsall

    Jeanne Birdsall

    Birdsall was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in the suburbs. She decided to become a writer at the age of ten - but she didn't start until she was 41. She worked first on other jobs, most notably as a ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Willoughbys

    Try:
    The Penderwicks
    by Jeanne Birdsall

  • Edward Bloor

    Edward Bloor

    Edward Bloor (born October 12, 1950) is an American author best known for his work in teenage and young adult fiction. Born into a diverse community in Trenton New Jersey, Bloor enjoyed an active lifestyle as a child, often ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Giver

    Try:
    Taken
    by Edward Bloor

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