Kate DiCamillo

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Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American writer of children's fiction, with a majority of animals.

She is one of six people to win two Newbery Medals, honoring her books The Tale of Despereaux (2003) and Flora & Ulysses (2013).

The Mercy Watson collection, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen, is one of her best-known books for young children. DiCamillo was the United States National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, appointed by the Library of Congress for the term 2014 to 2015.

Early life and education

Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 1964, to Betty Lee DiCamillo, a teacher, and Adolph Louis DiCamillo, an orthodontist. DiCamillo has an older brother and pet dogs. She had chronic pneumonia as a child and was often hospitalized. When Kate was five, the family moved to Clermont, Florida, in the hopes of easing her illness. Her father stayed in Philadelphia with his company, but she returned from time to time. Despite the fact that he had intended to move with the family after selling his services, it was never happening. As an infant, DiCamillo enjoyed reading and frequented the local library. She later credited her mother for sparking her love for books. When she was particularly sick with pneumonia and unable to do much else, DiCamillo switched to reading. She didn't want to be a veterinarian before she was ten years old.

She spent time in public schools in the area, beginning with Clermont Elementary School before transferring to Rollins College. DiCamillo left Rollins and spent a while at Walt Disney World before briefly attending the University of Central Florida. She earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1987 at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

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Early career

DiCamillo then worked various entry-level jobs in Clermont, including at Circus World, Walt Disney World, a campground and in a greenhouse. She said of her life during this time that she thought she was a talented writer and expected it to be quickly recognized so she "sat around for the next seven or eight years". DiCamillo moved to Minneapolis in 1994, following a close friend, and after several jobs was hired to work in The Bookman, a book warehouse and distributor, as a picker, eventually in the children's book section, a placement that she was initially disappointed over. While working in the department, DiCamillo discovered The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, a children's novel she greatly admired.

She began writing regularly while working in the book warehouse, waking up at before her shifts on weekdays to write. After four years in Minnesota, DiCamillo met the author Louise Erdrich, who offered her encouragement. DiCamillo submitted her books to several publishers. She received in return 473 rejection letters. She was also encouraged by the author Jane Resh Thomas. By the turn of the 21st century, despite her efforts, DiCamillo had only several short stories aimed at adults that had been published in magazines.

Writing career and recognition

DiCamillo had published 25 books as of 2018. As of 2021, almost 37 million copies of her books were in print. In 2019 she was described as "Minnesota's most successful writer" in Mpls St Paul Magazine. The success of her books was described in 2006 by a Candlewick Press as a "cornerstone" of the publisher's success.

DiCamillo's first book to be accepted for publication was Because of Winn-Dixie by Candlewick Press, a story about a girl who finds a stray dog and takes it home. A 1998 McKnight Fellowship grant allowed her to focus more on writing. She conceived the book's plot during the winter of her first year living in Minnesota, when she was missing her Florida home and upset about her apartment's no-dog policy. DiCamillo gave her draft to a Candlewick sales agent who was at a Christmas party held by The Bookman. The book was initially given to an editor who left the company on maternity leave and was lost in a pile of other manuscripts. It was rediscovered when the employee's office was cleaned out. She was offered and signed a contract. After a rewrite, the book was published in 2000. Flo Davis, the wife of a founder of the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain, sponsored DiCamillo to visit various schools in Florida and widen the book's reach. It was a quick commercial and critical success. Afterwards, DiCamillo left her job to focus on writing full-time. She told the Chicago Tribune in 2004 that she forced herself to write two pages every day, which took her on average from thirty minutes to an hour. In 2017, DiCamillo estimated that she spent about 12–15 hours a week writing and 35 to 40 reading, mainly adult fiction. She often traveled to talk about her writing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, DiCamillo reported that she wrote every morning for 100 days.

Because of Winn-Dixie's success marked the beginning of DiCamillo's writing career. It won the 2000 Josette Frank Award and a Newbery Honor. Her second book, The Tiger Rising, was published the following year. It was also well received by critics, who noted stylistic differences between it and Because of Winn-Dixie. DiCamillo won the Newbery Medal in 2004 for her third work The Tale of Despereaux. She wrote the book upon the request of the child of one of her friends for a story with "an unlikely hero". DiCamillo said she was shocked by the news of the Newbery. DiCamillo said that her 2006 work The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which is about a china rabbit, was very easy to write.

The Mercy Watson series, which features a pig as its main character, began with Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride (2006) and ended with Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes (2009). DiCamillo's 2010 novel Bink and Gollie, co-written with Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal. Her 2013 novel Flora & Ulysses was partially inspired by an injured squirrel she saw. It won the Newbery Medal in 2014, making her one of six writers to win two Newberys since the award was created in 1920.

In 2014 DiCamillo was named the fourth National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a post she held from January 2014 to December 2015. Upon taking that role, she utilized the theme "Stories Connect Us". In both the summers of 2015 and 2016 DiCamillo led the Collaborative Summer Library Program's summer reading campaign as the summer reading champion.

Her 2016 book Raymie Nightingale, about three young girls competing in a competition who end as friends, did not feel complete, and two years later DiCamillo wrote a sequel, Louisiana's Way Home. In 2019 she published Beverly, Right Here, completing a trilogy. In The New York Times the author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley wrote that Beverly, Right Here "may be her [DiCamillo's] finest [novel] yet". In 2019 she received the Regina Medal in recognition of her writing. DiCamillo's 2019 picture book La La La uses just one word: "la". The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, named March 29, 2020, Kate DiCamillo Day. DiCamillo's most recent novel to be published, The Beatryce Prophecy, was begun in 2009, rediscovered in 2018 and published in September 2021.

DiCamillo has received several awards for her books.

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