{{Short description|American author}}
'''Jonah Winter''' (born August 19, 1962)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Winter, Jonah 1962- {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/winter-jonah-1962 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> is an American children’s book author, illustrator, musician and poet,<ref name="Poets">{{Cite web |last=Poets |first=Academy of American |title=Jonah Winter |url=https://poets.org/poet/jonah-winter |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=poets.org |language=en}}</ref> best known for his nonfiction picture books about racial justice, baseball players, politicians, artists, and musicians.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Winter, Jonah 1962- {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/winter-jonah-1962 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Winter was born August 19, 1962, in Fort Worth, Texas.<ref name=":0" /> He grew up in Dallas, Texas, the son of author-illustrator Jeanette Winter<ref name="Poets"/> and visual artist Roger Winter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview Transcript: Roger Winter (Part 1) |url=https://publications.dma.org/api/epub/19/content.xhtml |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=publications.dma.org}}</ref> His first publication credit came at age seven with poems published in an adult literary magazine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Winter, Jonah 1962- {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/winter-jonah-1962 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He went on to study poetry at Oberlin College.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oberlin Alumni Magazine: Winter 2003-04 |url=https://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/winter2003/ats_05.html |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=www2.oberlin.edu}}</ref>
== Career == After supporting himself as a flower deliverer, a llama ranch hand, and a children’s book editor<ref>{{Cite web |title=Winter, Jonah 1962- {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/winter-jonah-1962 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> during his 20s, Winter launched his children’s book career in 1991 with a book conceived and illustrated by Jeanette Winter, entitled ''Diego'' (Alfred A. Knopf), for which he wrote the text.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-15 |title=Fabulous April Booklist Interview with author Jonah Winter |url=https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/fabulous-april-booklist-interview-with-author-jonah-winter/ |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=Wonders in the Dark |language=en}}</ref> He went on to write more than 40 children’s books,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jonah Winter {{!}} Penguin Random House |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/46323/jonah-winter |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref> including two that he also illustrated, ''Fair Ball: 14 Great Stars from Baseball’s Negro Leagues'' (Scholastic, 1999), and ''Beisbol! Latino Baseball Pioneers and Legends'' (Lee and Low, 2001). As a poet, he has published two full-length volumes for adults, ''Maine'' (Slope Editions, 1999) and ''Amnesia'' (Oberlin College Press, 2004), and two chapbooks, ''The Continuing Misadventures of Andrew, the Headless Talking Bear'' (Octopus Books, 2006) and ''Book Reports'' (Octopus Books, 2007).<ref name="Poets"/>
During the early 1990s, Winter was a member of the indie rock band, Ed’s Redeeming Qualities,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ed's Redeeming Qualities Songs, Albums, Review... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eds-redeeming-qualities-mn0000793549 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}</ref> in which he sang and played clarinet, accordion, mandolin, guitar and tin whistle, as featured on two albums, ''Big Grapefruit Cleanup Job'' and ''At the Fish and Game Club.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jonah Winter Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & Mor... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jonah-winter-mn0001828563 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}</ref> The band was featured in a romantic comedy film from 1996 called ''Ed’s Next Move''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}
In recent years, Winter has criticized censorship of children’s books, in essays published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Dallas Morning News, and in a C-SPAN interview.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogunEtuzXi8 |title=Children's Book Author Jonah Winter on Censorship |date=2024-05-09 |last=C-SPAN |access-date=2025-07-28 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-02-06 |title=When Social Media Goes After Your Book, What's the Right Response? (Published 2019) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/books/amelie-wen-zhao-blood-heir-keira-drake-continent-jonah-winter-secret-project.html |access-date=2025-07-28 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Winter |first=Jonah |title=Opinion {{!}} Cancel Culture Dominates Children's Literature |url=https://www.wsj.com/opinion/cancel-culture-dominates-childrens-literature-identity-politics-books-533a13cd |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-16 |title=My books are banned by the right and the left |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/02/18/my-childrens-books-are-censored-by-the-right-and-the-left/ |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=Dallas News |language=en}}</ref>
== Awards and honors == Three of Winter’s books have won the New York Times Best Illustrated Award: ''Diego'' (1991),<ref>{{Cite news |date=2002-11-17 |title=New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year, 1952-2002 (Published 2002) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/17/books/review/new-york-times-best-illustrated-childrens-books-of-the-year.html |access-date=2025-07-28 |language=en}}</ref> illustrated by Jeanette Winter; ''Here Comes the Garbage Barge'' (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010 - The New York Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2010/best-illustrated-childrens-books-2010/slide-show-page-1.html?src=tp |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> illustrated by Red Nose Studio; and ''Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of RBG vs. Inequality'' (2017),<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-11-02 |title=The Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2017 (Published 2017) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/books/review/best-illustrated-childrens-2017.html |access-date=2025-07-28 |language=en}}</ref> illustrated by Stacy Innerst. In 2008, his book ''Barack'' was a New York Times Best-Seller.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Children's Picture Books - Best Sellers - Books - Nov. 23, 2008 - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2008/11/23/picture-books/ |access-date=2025-07-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His 2013 book, ''You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!'', was a New York Times Editors Choice.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-03-15 |title=Editors' Choice (Published 2013) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/books/review/editors-choice.html |access-date=2025-07-28 |language=en}}</ref> His 2016 book, ''My Name Is James Madison Hemings'', was a New York Times Notable Children’s Book.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-11-23 |title=Notable Children's Books of 2016 (Published 2016) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/books/review/notable-childrens-books-of-2016.html |access-date=2025-07-28 |language=en}}</ref>
Other accolades include a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor for his 2015 book, ''Lillian’s Right to Vote,''<ref name="penguinrandomhouse.com">{{Cite web |title=Lillian's Right to Vote by Jonah Winter: 9780385390286 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/237857/lillians-right-to-vote-by-jonah-winter-illustrated-by-shane-w-evans/ |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref> which was also a Kirkus Prize finalist that year.<ref name="penguinrandomhouse.com"/> In 2019, Winter’s book, ''The Sad Little Fact'', was a Time Magazine Best Children’s Book of the year,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Gutterman |first1=Annabel |last2=Katzman |first2=Rebecca |last3=Maunz |first3=Shay |date=2019-11-25 |title=The 10 Best YA and Children's Books of 2019 |url=https://time.com/5738809/best-kids-ya-books-2019/ |access-date=2025-07-29 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> and his book, ''Thurgood'', was a Washington Post Best Children’s Book.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=Christina |date=2019-11-21 |title=The best children's books of 2019 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/2019/11/20/46168862-01b2-11ea-8501-2a7123a38c58_story.html |access-date=2025-07-29 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> In 2024, Winter was honored with a Horace Mann Upstanders Award for his book, ''Banned Book''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=University |first=Antioch |date=2024-01-24 |title=Jonah Winter Wins 2024 Horace Mann Upstander Award for "Banned Book" - Common Thread |url=https://commonthread.antioch.edu/jonah-winter-wins-2024-horace-mann-upstander-award-for-banned-book/ |access-date=2025-07-29 |website=commonthread.antioch.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Selected works ==
* ''Diego'', illustrated by Jeanette Winter, Alfred A. Knopf (1991) * ''Frida'', illustrated by Ana Juan, Scholastic (2002) * ''Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates'', illustrated by Raul Colon, Simon & Schuster (2005) * ''The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven'', illustrated by Barry Blitt, Random House (2006) * ''Dizz''y, illustrated by Sean Qualls, Scholastic (2006) * ''Steel Town'', illustrated by Terry Widener, Simon & Schuster (2008) * ''Barack'', illustrated by A.G. Ford, HarperCollins (2008) * ''Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude'', illustrated by Calef Brown, Simon & Schuster (2009) * ''You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!'', illustrated by Andre Carrilho, Random House (2009) * ''Peaceful Heroes'', illustrated by Sean Addy, Scholastic (2009) * ''Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx'', illustrated by Edel Rodriguez, Simon & Schuster (2009) * ''Here Comes the Garbage Barge!'', illustrated by Red Nose Studio, Random House (2010) * ''Jazz Age Josephine'', illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, Simon & Schuster (2012) * ''Just Behave, Pablo Picasso!'', illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, Scholastic (2012) * ''You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!'', illustrated by Terry Widener, Random House (2013) * ''The Founding Fathers!'', illustrated by Barry Blitt, Simon & Schuster (2015) * ''How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz'', illustrated by Keith Mallet, Macmillan (2015) * ''Lillian’s Right to Vote'', illustrated by Shane Evans, Random House (2015) * ''My Name Is James Madison Hemings'', illustrated by Terry Widener, Random House (2016) * ''The Secret Project'', illustrated by Jeanette Winter, Simon & Schuster (2017) * ''Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of RBG vs. Inequality'', illustrated by Stacy Innerst, Abrams (2017) * ''Elvis Is King!,'' illustrated by Red Nose Studio, Random House (2019) * ''The Sad Little Fact'', illustrated by Pete Oswald, Random House (2019) * ''Thurgood'', illustrated by Bryan Collier, Random House (2019) * ''Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children'', illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, Random House (2019) * ''Oil'', illustrated by Jeanette Winter, Simon & Schuster (2020) * ''Welcome to Bobville!'', illustrated by Bob Staake, Random House (2020) * ''The Little Owl and the Big Tree'', illustrated by Jeanette Winter, Simon & Schuster (2021) * ''Banned Book'', illustrated by Gary Kelley, Creative Editions (2023) * ''The Snow Man'', illustrated by Jeanette Winter, Simon & Schuster (2023) * ''Bird Rehearsal'', illustrated by Stacy Innerst, Abrams (2024) * It Happened in Salem, illustrated by Brad Holland, Creative Editions (2024)
== References == <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Jonah}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American illustrators Category:American musicians Category:American male poets Category:Writers from Texas