Elizabeth Yates

Elizabeth Yates McGreal (December 6, 1905 – July 29, 2001) was an American writer. She may have been known best for the biographical novel Amos Fortune, Free Man, winner of the 1951 Newbery Medal. She had been a Newbery runner-up in 1944 for Mountain Born. She began her writing career as a journalist, contributing travel articles to The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times. Many of her books were illustrated by the British artist Nora S. Unwin. Yates wrote a three-volume autobiography: My Diary – My World (1981), My Widening World (1983), and One Writer's Way (1984). Early years and education Elizabeth Yates was born in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Harry and Mary Duffy Yates. She was the seventh of eight children. Her father owned a plantation. She had a love of animals and the land, which stemmed from her childhood experiences.