Elaine Lobl Konigsburg is the author and illustrator of humorous, thought-provoking novels and stories for adolescents and young children. She has won the Newbery Medal twice — first for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967), and then for A View From Saturday (1991). In 1967, Konigsburg's novel Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (1967) was named a Newbery Honor Book. Konigsburg is the only author to have one book win a Newbery Medal and another book receive a Newbery honor in the same year. Konigsburg's books are amusing; however, they include a serious element that usually relates to an adolescent's search for the answer to the question, "Who am I?" Her protagonists are witty, intelligent, articulate characters. Konigsburg writes about a wide variety of topics in many different genres, including historical fiction, contemporary realism, fantasy, and picture books for children.
Konigsburg was born on February 10, 1930, in New York City, to Adolph Lobl, a businessman, and Beulah Klein. She was the second of three daughters. Konigsburg didn't grow up in New York City. Instead, she spent most of her childhood living with her family in small towns in Pennsylvania. As a child, Konigsburg was a voracious reader. Most of the time, she read in the bathroom of her house, because it was the only room that had a lock on the door and because she could run water to hide the fact that she was crying over a sentimental scene in a book. Konigsburg admits that she read a lot of "trashy" books during her childhood and adolescence. Her favorite books however, were Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little by E.B. White and Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Konigsburg did exceptionally well in her school courses and graduated as valedictorian from Farrell High School.
