Edward Irving Wortis (born December 23, 1937), better known by the pen name Avi, is a prominent American author of young adult and children's literature. He is a winner of both the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal.
Avi and his twin sister Emily Wortis Leider (also a writer) were born in New York City to Joseph Wortis, a psychiatrist, and Helen Zunser Wortis, a social worker. In the year after Avi's birth, his family moved to Brooklyn. When he was ...
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Edward Irving Wortis (born December 23, 1937), better known by the pen name Avi, is a prominent American author of young adult and children's literature. He is a winner of both the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal.
Avi and his twin sister Emily Wortis Leider (also a writer) were born in New York City to Joseph Wortis, a psychiatrist, and Helen Zunser Wortis, a social worker. In the year after Avi's birth, his family moved to Brooklyn. When he was young his sister gave him the nickname "Avi," which was his family name. Two of 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. He is also the first cousin of the Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin.
After he failed Stuyvesant High School, Avi's parents transferred him to Elisabeth Irwin High School, a smaller private school. There he studied with a tutor, Ella Ratner (whom he credits for his...
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