Background
Roger Sutton was born on October 26, 1956 in Manchester, Connecticut, United States, into the family of Franklin Thomas and Mary Sheila (McNally) Sutton.
Roger Sutton was born on October 26, 1956 in Manchester, Connecticut, United States, into the family of Franklin Thomas and Mary Sheila (McNally) Sutton.
In 1978 Roger received Bachelor of Arts at Pitzer College, and then he earned Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Chicago in 1982.
The year after Roger Sutton graduated from college, he worked as a security guard for the Pomona Public Library in California. Sutton knew he wanted to be a librarian, but it was the legendary Zena Sutherland on the University of Chicago’s Graduate Library School, author and critic, who ignited his passion for children’s literature. Sutton has worked as a young adult librarian, a children’s librarian and a branch librarian. He also wrote a column for School Library Journal about Young adult literature. In 1988, Sutton left the library to work for the Bulletin full time.
In 1993, the University of Illinois made an offer to move the Center for Children’s Books, The Bulletin and Hearne and Sutton to the University of Illinois. At first they got to keep their office in Chicago, but when they had to move to Champaign. Six months later, The Horn Book offered him the job as editor-in-chief, which he holds till now. That was in 1996.
Sutton urges libraries to use their unique position in the community to extol the virtues of the physical book. He also believes that the books we read as a child make an impact in ways that other books don’t.
Roger Sutton is an open homosexualist.
On April 17, 1989, Roger married a realtor Richard L. Asch.