Leonard S. Marcus

Leonard S. Marcus (born December 11, 1950) is one of the world's leading scholars of English language children's literature. Marcus is a critic, historian, and author.
Leonard Marcus is a contributor to the Horn Book and New York Times Book Review. Marcus is a founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. also, he is the curator of the New York Public Library's 2013 exhibition called The ABC OF IT: Why Children’s Books Matter'.
Marcus "... is one of the best and brightest critics of children`s literature. He is a fine stylist in his own right," said Liz Rosenberg in in reference to his biography of Margaret Wise Brown ``Awakened By The Moon`` . He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

-Yale University, magna cum laude with honors in history, BA, 1972

-University of Iowa, Graduate Writers Workshop in Poetry, Master of Fine Arts, 1974

-Bank Street College of Education, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, 2007

New York Public Library Pforzheimer Lecture;

Yale University Betsy Beinecke Shirley Lecture;

University of Wisconsin/Madison Charlotte Zolotow Lecture;

University of Illinois MillerComm Lecture;

Texas Woman’s University Bradshaw Lecture;

Princeton University;

New York University Medical Center Grand Rounds;

Art Institute of Chicago;

Library of Congress Center for the Book;

Los Angeles Public Library; American Library Association;

Maurice Sendak Fellowship;

Morgan Library & Museum (New York;

Chicago Humanities Festival;

National Book Festival;

Texas Book Festival;

University of Bologna; Bologna Children's Book Fair

Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris)

Mona Bismarck Foundation (Paris); Bologna International Children’s Book Fair;

National Library of Japan (Tokyo);

Asian Festival of Children’s Content keynote (Singapore);

National Library of China (Beijing)

National Library of Taiwan (Taipei);

Exhibitions Curated

New York Public Library (“The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” and others);

Rosenbach Museum (“Wonderland Rules: ALICE at 150”);

New School for Social Research;

Katonah Museum of Art;

Boston Athenaeum;

Vassar College Library;

Brooklyn Public Library;

Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha);

Hartford Public Library/Hartford History Center;

Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (“The Magician of the Modern: The Art of Leonard Weisgard” and several exhibitions); Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, NY);

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA);

National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (Abilene, TX); Real Art Ways (Hartford)..

Awards Judged

-Creator of the Carle Honors Awards (Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art);

Reading Magic Awards (Parenting magazine)

-2016 International Award in Illustration, Bologna Book Fair

-2016: Scholastic Asia Book Award (chief judge)

-2011: Sendak Fellowship

-2006–present: The Carle Honors Awards of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (committee chair); also, as a museum trustee, designed the plan for these awards.

-2009: Ragazzi Illustration Prize of the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair

-2001: Boston Globe/Horn Book Awards

-2001 Society of Illustrators/Original Art Show Juried Exhibition and Gold and Silver Medals

-1996: The National Book Award, Young People’s Literature; advised the National Book Foundation for five years thereafter on the selection of judges in this category.

-1993-2007: The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer and New Illustrator Awards

-1988-2007: Parenting Magazine Reading Magic Awards (later, Best Books of the Year): designed the plan for these awards; selected four judges annually; consolidated judges’ recommendations, and wrote the awards feature article for each Dec/Jan double issue of the magazine.

-1987, 1993, 2002: New York Times Book Review Ten Best Illustrated Books of the Year Awards

Teaching Experience

-School of Visual Arts (summer 2013–present). MFA in Visual Narrative Program seminar on the history of the picture book

-NYU Child Study Center/NYU Medical Center, “The Literature of Children and Adolescents” (2009–present)

-University of Illinois, “The Picture Book: History, Art, and Visual Literacy” (summer 2009 and summer 2011)

-Texas Woman’s University, “Children’s Books and Editorial Vision” (graduate seminar, School of Information and Library Science, 2000)

-California College of Arts and Crafts, “Writing for Children” (summer 1987)

-New School for Social Research, “Children’s Books As Literature” (Vera List Center, 1986-1992)

-School of Visual Arts, “Children’s Literature for Illustrators” (1982-1992)

Other Current Affiliations Eric Carle Museum, founding trustee (chair of exhibitions, collections, and Carle Honors Awards committees);

Authors Guild, member; The Century Association, member.

The Leonard Marcus Papers are at the Reinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.