Regina Medal - Recipient for 2008
Regina Medalist 2008: Vera B. Williams
Highly respected and celebrated author and illustrator Vera B. Williams is the 50th recipient of the Regina Medal for her lifetime contributions to children’s literature.
Her books have been published by Greenwillow Publishing since her first children’s book in 1975 with It’s a Gingerbread House. She has won two Caldecott Honors for A Chair for My Mother (1983) and “More More More,” Said the Baby: Three Love Stories (1990). Many of her books have been translated into Spanish.
When she was 9 years old, her painting “Yentas” was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The young artist was highlighted in the then popular Movietone film reels explaining her painting to another pioneering American woman, then first-lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Ms. Williams graduated from Black Mountain College in North Carolina with a degree in graphic arts. She has always been a strong supporter of non-violence, children, women, and the environment.
Ms. Williams received the Regina Medal at a luncheon in her honor in Indianapolis, IN on March 26, 2008.
New Regina Medal bookmarks honoring all Regina Medal winners are now available for purchase.