Background

Ann Keay Beneduce was born in Maplewood, New Jersey, to Elmer Scofield Keay, a broker, and Winnifred Houghton Keay, an advertising agency chief executive officer.

Education

Beneduce attended Bryn Mawr College. She also received a Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College in 1946.

Career

Ann Keay Beneduce has been an editor of children's books since 1960, when she joined the J.B. Lippincott Co. She subsequently held top posts at World Publishing Company, T.Y. Crowell, and the American subsidiary of William Collins Publishers before founding her own imprint, Philomel Books, as a division of the Putnam Publishing Group devoted to quality trade books for young readers.

In 1986 Beneduce began to work as an independent consultant in the field of children’s books, advising publishers on a variety of projects. As Ann has spent a great deal of time in Paris, she loves all things French, and so she was delighted when she was asked by an editor at Rizzoli to translate several French art books. Then the same editor invited her to write a book about the life and work of the American artist Winslow Homer.

Beneduce doesn't devote all her time to writing, although all her professional activities are still related to children’s books. For instance, she has organized an exhibit of the art and lifestyle of Tasha Tudor. She has also served as an editor for Eric Carle on some of his projects and on the advisory board for his planned museum of picture book art.

Achievements

• Ann is known as the founder and editor-in-chief of Philomel Books. Philomel publishes such notable kid's books as The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan and the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. The imprint also publishes notable picture books including The Day the Crayons Quit and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Jack and the Beanstalk

    (Having traded the family's only cow for beans, Jack hears...)

  • The Tempest

    (A lavish young reader's edition of the classic Shakespear...)

  • Gulliver's Adventures in Lilliput

    (Richly detailed, luminous paintings by a renowned Russian...)

    1993
  • Moses: The Long Road to Freedom

    (This beautiful, elegant retelling of the story of Moses i...)

    2001
  • A Weekend with Leonardo Da Vinci

    (The fifteenth century artist talks about his life and wor...)

  • Joy to the World a Family Christmas Treasury 1994

Views

Beneduce has always believed that international publishing and exchange of children’s books can be strong factors for promoting peace and mutual understanding among nations, and she devotes some time and effort to this cause.

Quotations: "Writing books for young readers might seem a natural thing for a children’s book editor to do, yet it took me more than two decades to make this transition. I loved editing and cherished the opportunities it afforded for working creatively with authors and artists. I liked producing books that young people would enjoy and which would also, I hoped, contribute to their intellectual, social, and artistic growth and provide both hope and inspiration."

Membership

In addition to being a member of or chairing several committees of the Children's Book Council, Beneduce has been the United States representative to the executive committee of IBBY (1974-78); founding member of the U.S. Friends of IBBY and president (1980 and 1981); corporate member of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF (1976 to present) and member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF (1979 to present); jury member for BIB (1977); art jury member for the Bologna Book Fair's Exhibition of Children's Book Elustrations (1977); and Member of the U.S.A. National Committee for the International Year of the Child (1978-80).

Interests

• painting, traveling

Connections

Ann Keay Beneduce was married to Sanford Worth. After his death, Ann married Eugene J. Beneduce. They later divorced, and Ann married Joel L. Lebowitz, a mathematical physicist.

Ann has two children - Wendy Worth and Cynthia Beneduce.

Father:

Elmer Scofield Keay

Mother:

Winnifred Houghton Keay

child:

Wendy Worth

child:

Cynthia Beneduce

Late Husband:

Sanford Worth

Ex-husband:

Eugene J. Beneduce

husband:

Joel L. Lebowitz

colleague:

Eric Carle

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series brings researchers the most recent data on the worlds most-popular authors.
  2010