Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Esther Hamilton (1934–2002) was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal.

Named for her grandfather's home state, Virginia Hamilton grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She attended Antioch College and then transferred to Ohio State University. She married the poet Arnold Adoff in 1960.

Hamilton's first book, as a child was "The Novel". Then came Zeely, published in 1967, and won numerous awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

The Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth has been held at Kent State University each year since 1984.

She died of breast cancer in 2002.