Quotes by Lois Lowry

About Lois Lowry:

Lois Lowry is an American writer credited with more than thirty children's books. She has won two Newbery Medals, for Number the Stars in 1990 and The Giver in 1994. For her contribution as a children's writer, she was a finalist in 2000 (and U.S. nominee again in 2004) for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. Her book Gooney Bird Greene won the 2002 Rhode Island Children's Book Award. In 2007 she received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her contribution in writing for teens. In 2011 she gave the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture; her lecture was titled "UNLEAVING: The Staying Power of Gold ". She was also awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Brown University in 2014.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I don't set out to transmit a message. I don't write with a political point of view. There are no religious overtones. Looking back at my books, I can say, 'Oh, yes, it is there.' But it's not in my mind when I write.

Lois Lowry

What comes to me always is a character, a scene, a moment. That's going to be the beginning. Then, as I write, I begin to perceive an ending. I begin to see a destination, although sometimes that changes. And then, of course, there's the whole middle...

Lois Lowry

Pretending that there are no choices to be made - reading only books, for example, which are cheery and safe and nice - is a prescription for disaster for the young.

Lois Lowry

So many of my books, I don't want to say they have messages, but they have important things to say.

Lois Lowry

Writing is self employment, so you can make your own schedule.

Lois Lowry

There will always be a place for bunnies to talk in rhyme, but that's not what I do.

Lois Lowry

I was a sidelines child: never class president, never team captain, never the one with the most valentines in my box.

Lois Lowry

People do things that turn out badly, often for the most benevolent of reasons.

Lois Lowry

People in the know say 'The Giver' was the first young adult dystopian novel.

Lois Lowry

I majored in English in college, so I read the classic dystopian novels like '1984' and 'Brave New World.'

Lois Lowry

I'm a writer; I like to retain subtlety and nuance.

Lois Lowry

I turn to books for a feeling of companionship: for somebody knowing what I have known.

Lois Lowry

If we as writers could predict what readers grab on to, we would write it.

Lois Lowry

I think I've written 40 books, and none of them have been heavy on action. I'm an introspective person.

Lois Lowry

I tend not to think about audience when I'm writing. Many people who read 'The Giver' now have their own kids who are reading it. Even from the beginning, the book attracted an audience beyond a child audience.

Lois Lowry

I prefer to surprise myself as I'm writing. I'm not interested in it if I already know where it's going. So I have only the most general sense of what I'm doing when I start a story. I sometimes have a destination in mind, but how the story is going ...

Lois Lowry

I think teens are drawn to these speculative books that portray what might happen and what could happen.

Lois Lowry

People can lie in letters, but they tend not to. They certainly lie in memoirs.

Lois Lowry

In my writing, I focus lenses. I'm almost always seeing when I am writing.

Lois Lowry

It's interesting that so many books now are published as the first in a series. It never occurred to me. Although 'The Giver' does have an ambiguous ending. I've heard about that from readers over the years.

Lois Lowry

Kids have no sense of appropriateness. They can ask me whatever they want. You do develop a sense of intimacy with readers, and they tell you things about themselves. During a school year, I'll get e-mails asking about the books. I'll give them infor...

Lois Lowry

Author Bio

  • NameLois Lowry
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • BornMarch 20, 1937
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionJournalist; Writer; Novelist; Photographer
  • WorksThe Giver; Number The Stars
  • AwardsMargaret Edwards Award; Newbery Medal