Avi author information sheet

American author of children's books

Edward Irving Wortis (born December 23, 1937), better known by the pen nameAvi,^[1][2] is an American author of young adult and children's literature.

He is a winner of the Newbery Medal and twice one of the runners-up (Newbery Honor).

Biography

Avi and his twin sister were born in Brooklyn, New York to Joseph Wortis, an American-Jewishpsychiatrist of Russian-Jewish and Alsatian-Jewish descent, and Helen Wortis, a social worker.

When he was one year old, his sister gave him the nickname "Avi".^[3] Both Avi's grandfathers were writers, and one grandmother was a playwright. In interviews, he recalled his mother reading to him and his sister every night, and going to the public library on Fridays.

Avi author information sheet

He is also the first cousin of the Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin.

Avi's parents transferred him from Stuyvesant High School to Elisabeth Irwin High School, a smaller private school. At his new