Else Holmelund Minarik
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September 13, 1920
Else Holmelund Minarik | |
|---|---|
| Born | Else Holmelund September 13, 1920 Fredericia, Denmark |
| Died | July 12, 2012 (aged 91) Sunset Beach, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Education | Queens College, City University of New York (BA) |
| Years active | 1957–2010 |
Else Holmelund Minarik (née Holmelund; September 13, 1920 – July 12, 2012) was a Danish-born American author of more than 40 children's books. She was most commonly associated with her Little Bear series of children's books, which were adapted for television.[1] Minarik was also the author of another well-known book, No Fighting, No Biting![2][3]
Born in Fredericia, Denmark, Minarik immigrated to the United States at the age of four with her family. As a young child in Denmark, she was introduced to the stories of Hans Christian Andersen.[4] By 1940, Else had married Walter Minarik, who died in 1963.[1] After graduating from Queens College, City University of New York (B.A., 1942), she became a journalist, for the Daily Sentinel newspaper of Rome, New York, during World War II. She subsequently lived on Long Island, where she was employed as a first-grade teacher for the Commack School District.[2] Her first book, Little Bear, was borne out of her desire to write something her students could read on their own.[5]
She later lived in West Nottingham, New Hampshire. Minarik married her second husband, Pulitzer-winning journalist Homer Bigart, in 1970;[1] after his death in 1991, she moved to Sunset Beach[3] in Brunswick County, North Carolina, where she continued writing longhand, as she always had.[6][7]
Minarik's last book, Little Bear and the Marco Polo, was published in 2010. After having suffered a heart attack at 91, she died at home from complications, on July 12, 2012.[2][8][9]
