Russell Freedman

Born in 1929 in San Francisco, Russell Freedman is a biographer and the author of nearly fifty books for young people. He received the Newbery Medal in 1988 for his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.

As an author of nonfiction, Russell Freedman prefers to be called a "factual author". In doing so, he is challenging what he perceives as a common misconception, that nonfiction is less interesting and less important than fiction. Freedman tries to stamp out that myth with every book that he writes. He chooses only topics that he is interested in and wants to learn more about. Oftentimes, he likes to write about people in history who possess character traits that stand out and make them memorable. For example, he explains that he chose to write about Eleanor Roosevelt because of her big-heartedness, and Crazy Horse because of his courage and integrity. In addition to his biographies, Freedman has written over twenty books on animal behavior, a topic that he has found fascinating since childhood.