William Kotzwinkle (born November 22, 1943) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

, children's writer, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He was born in

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, U.S.A. He has won the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

for Best Novel for ''Doctor Rat'' in 1977, and has also won the

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

for fiction. Kotzwinkle has been most known for writing the

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the screenplay for ''

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...

''. He has been married to author Elizabeth Gundy since 1965.

List of works

Novels

* ''Hermes 3000'' (1972) * '' The Fan Man'' (1974) * ''Night Book'' (1974) * ''Swimmer in the Secret Sea'' (1975) (a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

published in

mass-market paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...

format, as a sort of

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

) * ''Doctor Rat'' (1976) * '' Fata Morgana'' (1977) * ''Herr Nightingale And the Satin Woman'' (1978) (graphic novel, illustrated Joe Servello) * ''Jack in the Box'' (1980) (later re-titled as ''Book of Love'' at the release of the

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

based on it) * ''Christmas at Fontaine's'' (1982) * ''

Superman III ''Superman III'' is a 1983 superhero film directed by Richard Lester from a screenplay by David Newman and Leslie Newman based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the third installment in the ''Superman'' film series and a sequel to '' ...

'' (1983) (based on the screenplay by David Newman and Leslie Newman) * ''Great World Circus'' (1983) (illustrated Joe Servello) * ''Queen of Swords'' (1983) * ''Seduction in Berlin'' (1985) (long story poem, illustrated Joe Servello) * ''The Exile'' (1987) * ''The Midnight Examiner'' (1989) * ''The Game of Thirty'' (1994) (reissued 2007 as The Game of 30) * '' The Bear Went Over the Mountain'' (1996) * ''The Amphora Project'' (2005) * ''Felonious Monk'' (2021)

''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' series

* ''

'' (1982) (based on

Melissa Mathison Melissa Marie Mathison (June 3, 1950 – November 4, 2015) was an American film and television screenwriter and an activist for the Tibetan independence movement. She was best known for writing the screenplays for the films ''The Black Stallion'' ...

's screenplay) * '' E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet'' (1985)

Collections

* ''Elephant Bangs Train'' (1971) (short stories) * ''The Oldest Man: And Other Timeless Stories'' (1971) (juvenile) * '' Trouble in Bugland: A Collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries'' (1983) (juvenile) * '' Jewel of the Moon'' (1985) (short stories) * ''Hearts of Wood: And Other Timeless Tales'' (1986) (juvenile) * ''The Hot Jazz Trio'' (1989) (3 short stories, illustrated Joe Servello) * ''Tales from the Empty Notebook'' (1995) (juvenile) * ''Double Trouble in Bugland : A New Collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries'' (2016) (juvenile)

Short stories

* "The Curio Shop" (1980) * "Fragments of Papyrus from the Temple of the Older Gods" (1988) * "Blues on the Nile: A Fragment of Papyrus" (1989) * "Boxcar Blues" (1989) * "

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

Played the Blues" (1989) * "Horse Badorties Goes Out" (1973) * "The Magician"

Children's books

* ''The Firemen'' (1969) * ''Elephant Boy: A Story of the Stone Age'' (1970) * ''The Day the Gang Got Rich'' (1970) * ''The Ship That Came Down The Gutter'' (1970) * ''The Return of Crazy Horse'' (1971) * ''The Supreme, Superb, Exalted and Delightful, One and Only Magic Building'' (1973) * ''Up the Alley with Jack and Joe'' (1974) * ''The Leopard's Tooth'' (1976) * ''The Ants Who Took Away Time'' (1978) * ''Dream of Dark Harbor: A Ghostly Sea Story'' (1979) * ''The Nap Master'' (1979) * ''E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial Storybook'' (1982) * ''The World Is Big and I'm So Small'' (1986) * ''The Empty Notebook'' (1990) * ''The Million-Dollar Bear'' (1995) *

Walter the Farting Dog ''Walter the Farting Dog'' is the title character of a series of children's books written by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray, and illustrated by Audrey Colman. The first book was published in 2001. By 2011, the first book had reported sales ...

series (with Glenn Murray and Elizabeth Gundy)Subsequent volumes identify Gundy as an uncredited contributor on the earlier books. The later books give her a co-author credit. (illustrations by Audrey Colman) ** ''Walter the Farting Dog'' (2001) (published in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

as ''Walter, Canis Inflatus'' (2004) ) ** ''Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale'' (2004) (also published as ''Walter the Farting Dog Farts Again'') ** ''Rough Weather Ahead for Walter the Farting Dog'' (2005) ** ''Walter the Farting Dog goes on a Cruise'' (2006) ** ''Walter The Farting Dog: Banned From the Beach'' (June 21, 2007)

Screenplays

* '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master'' (1988) (original story, for the

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

) * ''Book of Love'' (1990) (adapted from his novel ''Jack in the Box'', for the

)

Notes

External links

Official website
* *

a
FantasticFiction.co.uk
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotzwinkle, William 1938 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American children's writers American male novelists American science fiction writers American male screenwriters Writers from Scranton, Pennsylvania American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers World Fantasy Award-winning writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Pennsylvania Screenwriters from Pennsylvania