Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Jacqueline Briggs Martin is an American author of children's literature and a teacher of creative writing. Her books have received several awards including, Caldecott Medal, Golden Kite Award, Lupine Award (1996, 1998, 2003), Award for Excellence in Children's Literature from the Sterling North Society, and the Green Earth Award (2018). She has taught at Cornell College, University of Iowa, The Loft Literary Center, and is on faculty at Hamline University.

Early life and education Martin was born in Lewiston, Maine on April 15, 1945. She spent her early life on a dairy farm in Maine. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1966, and obtained a BA from the Institute of Child Development at University of Minnesota in 1971.

Martin finds story ideas from a variety of sources. Some stories start with elements of her own family history and childhood, and others arise from interesting people she has heard about. She spends much of her time doing background research and fact-checking to ensure historical details are present and accurate. In Snowflake Bentley, she had to cut the story to fit the work's picture book format, so she saved some historical facts for sidebars on the pages for interested older readers. Martin believes that writers are always improving and considers herself a slow writer.

Personal life Martin currently lives in Mount Vernon, Iowa. She married Richard Martin in 1967: they have two children, Sarah and Justin.