Cyndy Szekeres

Cyndy Szekeres (October 31, 1933 – November 22, 2024) was an American children's book author and illustrator who has produced more than 130 books in the tradition of Beatrix Potter and Garth Williams. Best known for her anthropomorphic animal illustrations, she won the 1969 AIGA Award for Moon Mouse.

Biography Szekeres was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 31, 1933. Her parents were Stephen Paul, a toolmaker, and Anna (Ceplousky) Szekeres. Her father was a first-generation immigrant from Hungary, while her mother was a second-generation Lithuanian American. Szekeres grew up in the countryside of Fairfield County, where she developed a love of nature and began drawing in pencil at a very young age. Growing up in the later years of the Great Depression, she got her start drawing on brown paper bags.

While pregnant with her first son, Szekeres received her first commission in 1959 to illustrate Sam Vaughan's New Shoes, published in 1961. Long Ago (1977) was the first book she both wrote and illustrated. Starting in 2000, Szekeres has written and illustrated a series of preschool concept books featuring a very young mouse named Toby.

Szekeres died in Maryville, Tennessee on November 22, 2024, at the age of 91.