Vera Williams

Additionally, she was awarded the 2009 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature.

• Name — Vera B. Williams • Birth Name — Vera Baker • Born — 28 January 1927 • Birthplace — Hollywood, California • Died — 16 October 2015 • Place of death — Narrowsburg, New York, USA • Occupation — Writer and illustrator • Period — 1975–2015 • Genre — Children's literature, picture books • Notable Works — As writer: It's a Gingerbread House (1978) A Chair for My Mother (1982) • Spouse — Paul Williams (−1970) • Children — Sarah Jennifer Merce • Education — High School of Music & Art Black Mountain College

Vera Baker was born January 28, 1927, in Hollywood, California. She has one sister, Naomi. As a child, her family moved to the Bronx, New York, where her father was frequently absent during her early childhood. In New York City, she danced, acted, and painted at the Bronx House, a local community center. Her book Scooter, published in 1993, is based on her childhood in the Bronx. Encouraged by their parents to explore the arts, she studied at the High School of Music & Art and Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where she received her BFA in Graphic Art in 1949.

While at Black Mountain College, she married fellow student Paul Williams. The couple divorced in 1970. Together they had three children: • Sarah Williams • Jennifer Williams • Merce Williams She has five grandchildren: • Hudson Williams • August Williams • William Babcock • Rebecca Babcock • Clare Babcock

Williams was a co-founder of the Gate Hill Cooperative Community and served as a teacher for the community from 1953–70. She taught at alternative schools in New York and Ontario throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Following her divorce, she emigrated to Canada, where she committed to becoming a children's author and illustrator. In 1975 she was invited by Remy Charlip to illustrate Hooray for Me, which she did while living on a houseboat in Vancouver, British Columbia. She established a publishing relationship with Greenwillow Books that continues to this day. Most recently, Ms. Williams resided in New York City and remained active in local issues such as The House of Elder Artists and participated in the 2007 PEN World Voices literary festival. She died on October 16, 2015. • Illustration — United for Libraries Literary Landmark dedicated by the Empire State Center for the Book

• It's a Gingerbread House (1978) • The Great Watermelon Birthday (1980) • Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe (1981) • A Chair for My Mother (1982) • Something Special for Me (1983) • Music, Music for Everyone (1984) • My Mother, Leah and George Sand (1986) • Cherries and Cherry Pits (1986) • Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea with Jennifer Williams (1988) • "More More More" Said the Baby (1990) • Scooter (1993) • Lucky Song (1997) • Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart (2001) • A Chair for Always (2009) • Home at Last with Chris Raschka (2016)

• 1995: Family, Friends, and Community: The Art of Vera B. Williams, Library of Congress • 2024: Vera B. Williams / STORIES: Eight Decades of Politics and Picture Making, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, North Carolina, January 26 – May 11, 2024.

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The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Dissertationem inauguralem de vera nervi intercostalis origine. / praeside D. Alberto Haller. Publice defendet Hardovicus Wilhelmus Ludovicus Taube. Die xxxi.