Richard Peck (writer)

Richard Wayne Peck was born on April 5, 1934, in Illinois to Virginia Grey Peck and Wayne Peck. His mother was a Wesleyan University graduate,and his father owned a service station. A sister, Cheryl, would later become an administrator at a college. He attended elementary and high schools in Decatur, Illinois.

Peck earned a bachelor's degree in English at DePauw University in 1956. He spent his junior year abroad at the University of Exeter.

After college, he was drafted into the US Army as a chaplain's assistant and spent two years serving in Stuttgart, Germany. In a 2003 interview he commented, "I think your view of the world goes on—for the rest of your life—as the world you saw as you emerged into it as an adult."[5]

After his military service ended, he completed a master's degree at Southern Illinois University in 1959.

Peck worked as a high school teacher, but much to his dismay, was transferred to a junior high school to teach English. After a while, he decided to cut his career short and write. However, these observations about junior high school students proved excellent material for his books. He said, "Ironically, it was my students who taught me to be a writer, though I was hired to teach them."[6]

He left teaching in 1971 to write his first novel, Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1972, in which "A teenage girl struggles to understand her place within her family and in the world." He wrote a book each year since then — 41 books in 41 years.

Peck was an adjunct professor with Louisiana State University's School of Library and Information Sciences.[6]

A magazine article describes Peck as a person "who is fastidious about what he allows others to know about himself. He knew, respected, and honored personal boundaries in ways that are refreshing for someone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, when every little personal thing was fair game."[7] He lived in New York and divided his time between writing and traveling. Peck died in New York City in May 2018 at age 84.[8]

"The only way you can write is by the light of the bridges burning behind you." — Richard Peck, at a PEN panel in New York City, February 8, 2010

"Ironically, it was my students who taught me to be a writer, though I had been hired to teach them," Peck said in a speech published in Arkansas Libraries. "They taught me that a novel must entertain first before it can be anything else. I learned that there is no such thing as a 'grade reading level'; a young person's 'reading level' and attention span will rise and fall according to his degree of interest. I learned that if you do not have a happy ending for the young, you had better do some fast talking."

"You never write about yourself; you just always wind up having written about yourself." — October 10, 2013, to a library full of 4th graders in Pleasanton, California

"Nobody but a reader ever became a writer." — SCBWI conference, August 5, 2013

Peck wrote exclusively on a typewriter, described here in 'Publishers Weekly':

When the author is not traveling, he works at an L-shaped desk, which affords a sunny window. He writes everything on an electric typewriter because "it has to be a book from the first day," he explains. He has no daily routine because of all the traveling he does, but follows a very disciplined writing process. He writes each page six times, then places it in a three-ring binder with a DePauw University cover ("a talisman," he calls this memento from his alma mater). When he feels that he has gotten a page just right, he takes out another 20 words. "After a year, I've come to the end. Then I'll take this first chapter, and without rereading it, I'll throw it away and write the chapter that goes at the beginning. Because the first chapter is the last chapter in disguise." He always hands in a completed manuscript, and his editor is his first reader.

Although Peck found a way to connect to readers around the world, he refused to embrace new technology. He typed his material on a typewriter. He wrote two books that have a tech-savvy setting.

Peck believed each book should be a question, not an answer. He also believed that before anything else can happen a book needs to be entertaining. He wrote many award-winning novels.

His collected papers written between 1972 and 1991 reside at The University of Southern Mississippi.[9]

Richard Peck died on May 23, 2018, at his home in New York City after a long battle with cancer.[10]

• The Ghost Belonged to Me (1976), from the 1975 novel
• Are You in the House Alone? (1978 made-for-TV thriller film), from the 1976 novel
• Child of Glass (1978 TV movie), from The Ghost Belonged to Me (1976)
• Father Figure (1980), from the 1978 novel
• Gas Food Lodging (1992), from Don't Look and It Won't Hurt (1971)

• 1990: Margaret A. Edwards Award for "significant and lasting contributions to young adult literature"[4][lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
• 1990: ALAN Award, from The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, for "outstanding contributions to the field of adolescent literature"[11]
• 1991: The University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for "outstanding contributions to the field of children's literature"
• 2001: National Humanities Medal[12]
• 2004: Jeremiah Ludington Memorial Award, from the Educational Paperback Association, for "significant contribution to the educational paperback business"[13]

• Gallo, Donald R. and Wendy J. Glenn. Richard Peck: The Past is Paramount. 2nd ed. revised. Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2008. ISBN 0810863944. (Google Books selection)
• Sommers, Michael A. Richard Peck (Library of author biographies). New York: Rosen Pub. Group. 2004. ISBN 0823940187

• Children's Author/Illustrator Biographies: Richard Peck from the Educational Paperback Association
• "Books for the Readers of the 21st Century by Richard Peck", The Ezra Jack Keats Lecture, March 24, 2000
• Scholastic.com: Authors & Books: Richard Peck's Interview Transcript interview by students
• Richard Peck at Scholastic Teachers
• Featured Author: Richard Peck at Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
• Richard Peck at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Richard Peck at Library of Congress Authorities, with 58 catalog records