Beloved Children’s Book Author Dead at 83
Lloyd Alexander, a prolific writer of children’s books including the five-book series “The Chronicles of Prydain,” died this week of cancer at the age of 83. Sadly, his wife died just two weeks before.
Alexander knew that he wanted to be a writer from age 15. His parents could not afford to send him to college so he took a number of jobs before joining the US Army. He ended up in Paris while in the Army. There, he met the woman he would eventually marry. Alexander and his wife returned to the Philadelphia suburbs, where they would live the rest of their days.
After a number of years of rejection, Alexander was finally published as a children’s author. The first book of his Prydain series was published in 1964. The last book of the series, The High King, won the Newbery Medal in 1969. Another book in the series, The Black Cauldron, was named a runner-up for the medal in 1966, a status now known as a Newbery Honor Book.
Lloyd Alexander, Prydain, The Black Cauldron, The High King
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