Kate Banks
American children's writer and award-winning picture book author.
Kate Banks was an American children's writer whose picture book And If the Moon Could Talk won the 1998 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and whose The Night Worker won the 2001 Charlotte Zolotow Award. Her novel Dillon Dillon was a finalist for the 2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction, and Howie Bowles, Secret Agent was nominated for the 2000 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile. Max’s Math won the 2016 Mathical Book Prize.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Katherine Anne Banks
- Born
- 13 February 1960
- Birthplace
- Farmington, Maine, United States
- Died
- 24 February 2024
- Place of death
- Basel, Switzerland
- Occupation
- Writer
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- Banks's father, a history professor at the University of Maine, was killed in a botched robbery in 1979.
- She was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in her twenties and had chronic pain from complications in childbirth.
- Banks also had mast cell activation syndrome, which left her unable to pursue treatment for neuroendocrine cancer, diagnosed in 2022.
Career
Kate Banks got her start in children's publishing through an internship at the Atlantic Monthly Press while still at Wellesley College, spending two years in the children's books department. She then became an assistant to editor Frances Foster at Knopf in 1984. After five years working alongside Foster, Banks decided to pursue writing, and Foster remained her editor for roughly the next twenty years. The idea for Banks' debut book, Alphabet Soup, came to her during her time with Foster, who urged her to put it on paper and connected her with illustrator Peter Sís, a newcomer to New York seeking work.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Kate Banks born?
Kate Banks was born on 13 February 1960 in Farmington, Maine, United States.
When did Kate Banks die?
Kate Banks died on 24 February 2024 in Basel, Switzerland.
More in People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced