See our tributes to children’s authors, illustrators, and publishers we have lost this year.
Esteemed children’s book editor Christine Baker, a key figure in both English- and French-language children’s publishing, died April 20 at age 71 after a short illness.
Children’s author-illustrator Byron Barton, known for his many picture books for very young children featuring simple text and images rendered in bold blocks of color and thick black outline, died June 3 following a long illness. He was 92.
Author and performer Echo Brown, widely praised for her genre-fluid YA novels that blend memoir and magical realism, died September 16 from end-stage renal failure due to lupus. She was 39.
Award-winning, versatile, and prolific children’s author Eve Bunting died on October 1 at 94.
Caldecott Honor illustrator, fine artist, and designer Ian Falconer, most notably known as the creator of witty picture books about headstrong, precocious piglet Olivia, died of natural causes on March 7 at age 63.
Award-winning children’s author and former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman, widely recognized for her playful picture books focused on the everyday wonders, relationships, and experiences of childhood, died July 7 following a long illness. She was 92.
Award-winning children’s author Janet Taylor Lisle, lauded for her novels featuring complex characters in stories blending everyday life with elements of mystery and magic, died on October 5. She was 76.
Publicist-turned-publisher Casey McIntyre, a 2015 PW Star Watch Honoree, died on November 12, from ovarian cancer. She was 38. A fundraiser in her name to erase medical debt has raised more than a million dollars to date, enough to forgive $100 million of debt.
Children’s librarian, author, and champion of intellectual freedom Susan Patron, best known for her Newbery Medal-winning novel The Higher Power of Lucky, died October 24, following a battle with lung cancer. She was 75.
Julie Anne Peters, best known for her groundbreaking YA novels featuring complex LGBTQ+ characters navigating relationships and exploring issues of identity, died on March 21 following a long illness. She was 71.
Author-illustrator Amy Schwartz, recognized for her warm, humorous tales with a kid-centered point of view, and her equally distinctive gouache and pen-and-ink artwork, died suddenly on February 26 at her home in Brooklyn. She was 68.
