Fox, Paula (1923-2017), an American author, won the 1974 Newbery Medal for her children’s novel The Slave Dancer. This story describes the experiences of a white boy aboard an American ship carrying enslaved Black people from Africa in 1840. In 1978, Fox received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, an international award given for a lifetime of work in children’s literature.
Paula Fox was born on April 22, 1923, in New York City. Her other children’s books include How Many Miles to Babylon? (1967), The Stone-Faced Boy (1968), Portrait of Ivan (1969), Blowfish Live in the Sea (1970), The Little Swineherd and Other Tales (1978), A Place Apart (1980), One-Eyed Cat (1984), The Moonlight Man (1986), Lily and the Lost Boy (1987), The Village by the Sea (1988), The Eagle Kite (1995), and Traces (2008). Fox wrote the memoirs Borrowed Finery (2001) and The Coldest Winter: A Stringer in Liberated Europe (2005). She also wrote several books for adults. Her stories and nonfiction were collected in News from the World: Stories and Essays (2011). Fox died on March 1, 2017.
