Jean Edna Karl (July 29, 1927 in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

– March 30, 2000 in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...

) was an American book editor who specialized in

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

's and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

titles. She founded and led the children's division and

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

and science fiction imprints at

Atheneum Books Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since it acquired Macmillan in 1994, and it created Atheneum ...

, where she oversaw or edited books that won two

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

s and five

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

s. One of the Newberys went to the new writer E. L. Konigsburg in 1968 for '' From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler''."Jean Karl, 72; A Publisher Of Books For Children"
(obituary). April 3, 2000. Eden Ross Lipson. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
. Summer 2006. Alan Jalowitz. Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Penn State University. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
. No date. Vicki Palmquist. Children's Literature Network. (c) 2002–2008. Retrieved 2011-10-21.

Life

Karl was born and raised in Chicago. She graduated from the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

-affiliated

Mount Union College The University of Mount Union is a private liberal arts university in Alliance, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until 2019. It had an enrollment of 2,100 students as of 2023. Histo ...

in 1949 and immediately began work in the book industry, initially at

Scott Foresman Scott Foresman was an elementary educational publisher for PreK through Grade 6 in all subject areas. Its titles are now owned by Savvas Learning Company which formed from former Pearson Education K12 division. The old Glenview headquarters ...

in Chicago (

Dick and Jane ''Dick and Jane'' are the two protagonists created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930 and continued in a subseq ...

readers), then at the Methodist Church-owned

Abingdon Press Abingdon Press is the book publishing arm of the United Methodist Publishing House which publishes sheet music, ministerial resources, Bible-study aids, and other items, often with a focus on Methodism and Methodists. History Abingdon Press ...

in New York City (children's editor). The founder of Atheneum, Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. personally recruited her in 1961 to establish the Atheneum Books for Young Readers division"About Atheneum (Books for Young Readers)"
. Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2011-10-23. which she led until she retired. There she started the imprints

Aladdin Paperbacks Aladdin Paperbacks is one of several children's-book imprints owned by Simon & Schuster. It was established by Jean E. Karl at Atheneum Books where she was the founding director of the children's department (1961). Atheneum merged with or was ...

(mass market children's) and Atheneum Argo (young-adult science fiction ardcoverref name=psu/>). Atheneum is now part of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. During Karl's tenure on the staff, Atheneum merged with

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjori ...

in 1978 and Macmillan US acquired the resulting Scribner Book Company in 1984. Later, Robert Maxwell in 1989 and Simon & Schuster in 1994 acquired Macmillan. (See

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

.) After retiring in 1985 she continued to edit books (as Atheneum editor-at-large) almost until her death in 2000. She died at a

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

in Lancaster with no immediate survivors. She was long active in the Children's Book Council for which she served as president, and in the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercial ...

Author

Karl wrote science fiction for children and young adults: a collection ''The Turning Place'' (

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton (January 1, ...

, 1976) and novels ''Beloved Benjamin is Waiting'' (Dutton, 1978), ''But We are Not of Earth'' (Dutton, 1981), and ''Strange Tomorrow'' (Dutton, 1985). . Retrieved 2012-06-06. Her science fiction was originally submitted under her grandmother's maiden name R. W. Munson. She wrote two important books about children's books: ''From Childhood to Childhood: Children’s Books and Their Creators'' (John Day, 1970) and ''How to Write and Sell Children's Picture Books'' (

Writer's Digest Books ''Writer's Digest'' is an American magazine aimed at beginning and established writers. It contains interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles. History ''Writer's Digest'' was first published in December 1920 und ...

, 1994). Vicki Palmquist at Children's Literature Network credits the former with a "satisfying look into how publishing decisions are made".

Editor

E. L. Konigsburg was a suburban mother of three schoolchildren without previous publications when she submitted two manuscripts in 1966; Karl accepted both. "Afterword" (unnumbered). '' Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth'' was published first, then ''Mixed-Up Files''. They won the Newbery Honor (in 1971, retroactive) and the Newbery Medal, still the only Newbery recognitions for two books by one author in one year. Konigsburg has called Karl her "forever editor" and "stalwart editor". Without mentioning a name, she explained the editorial process to Scholastic Teacher (no date): :How do you go about revising your writing? :My editor – I've had the same editor always – sends me some suggestions. I have had two books go directly from manuscript to typescript, which is like getting an A+ on a paper. My editor makes suggestions, and I read them all and work with them. Neither she nor I approves of someone going in to tweak the story. We agree that you should read the comments over the whole story, and then decide what you are going to churn up. You don't change little bits at a time.

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

had published the first

Earthsea ''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with '' A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), '' The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and '' The Farthest Shore'' (1 ...

book with the California

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction ...

Parnassus in 1968. The second, third, and fourth books were published by Atheneum in 1971, 1972, and 1990. ''

The Tombs of Atuan ''The Tombs of Atuan'' is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of ''Worlds of Fantasy'', and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. It is the second book in the Earthsea ser ...

'' (1971) earned a Newbery Honor and ''

The Farthest Shore ''The Farthest Shore'' is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published by Atheneum in 1972. It is the third book in the series commonly called the Earthsea Cycle. As the next Earthsea novel, '' Tehanu'', would not ...

'' (1972) a National Book Award in category young people's literature. Ms. Le Guin lists five other books published by Atheneum, 1976 to 1992 "(major books only, principal US editions only)".

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1968) an ...

had published two ''

Dragonriders of Pern ''Dragonriders of Pern'' is a science fantasy series written primarily by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with A ...

'' books with Ballantine in 1968 and 1971, and had a contract for one more. Karl hoped to attract more female readers to science fiction by providing the right characters. Around 1974 she solicited "a story for young women in a different part of Pern". McCaffrey worked up a languishing false start as '' Dragonsong'' and they contracted for a sequel before it was out in 1976. ''Dragonholder'', pp. 103–104. '' Dragonsinger'' and '' Dragondrums'' followed in 1977 and 1979. Atheneum published these three books which

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

christened '' The Harper Hall of Pern'' for its 1984 omnibus edition. Otherwise Ballantine has continued to publish the Pern books.
Harper Hall - series bibliography
ISFDB. Retrieved 2011-10-21. Beginning in 1973, Karl edited five Patricia A. McKillip books including the author's first novel in 1974 '' The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'' after it was rejected by an adult publisher."InterGalactic Interview With Patricia McKillip"
February 2011.

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy. ...

. ''Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show''. Issue 21. Retrieved 2023-10-3. It won the first

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."Winners"

World Fantasy Convention The World Fantasy Convention is an annual science fiction convention, convention of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of fantasy. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the event. Other features include an art sh ...

. Retrieved 2023-10-3. :The third one was ''The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'' which won the World Fantasy Award. That I wrote as an adult novel, but after it got rejected by the adult department at Atheneum, my children's editor, Jean Karl, took it. She wanted cross-over novels for teen-aged girls, which was kind of rare in those days.

Awards

Karl oversaw or edited books that won two

s, five

s, five Newbery Honors (honorable mentions), one

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

, and one World Fantasy Award. Others won eight

Edgar Allan Poe Awards The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

. Caldecott Medal *

Beatrice Schenk de Regniers Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (August 16, 1914—March 1, 2000) was an American people, American writer of children's literature, children's picture books. Beatrice Schenk de Regniers was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and studied social work administ ...

, '' May I Bring a Friend?'', illustrated by Beni Montresor * Gail E. Haley, ''

A Story a Story ''A Story, a Story'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Gail E. Haley that retells the African tale of how the trickster Anansi obtained stories from the Sky God to give to the children of the earth. The book was produced aft ...

'' Newbery Medal * E. L. Konigsburg, '' From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler'' *

Robert C. O'Brien Robert Charles O'Brien Jr. (born June 18, 1966) is an American attorney who was the twenty-seventh United States national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. He was the fourth and final person to hold the position during the first presidency of ...

, '' Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH'' *

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (born January 4, 1933) is an American writer best known for children's and young adult fiction. Naylor is best known for her children's-novel quartet '' Shiloh'' (a 1992 Newbery Medal winner) and for her "Alice" book ser ...

, '' Shiloh'' *

Cynthia Voigt Cynthia Voigt (born February 25, 1942) is an American writer of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. Her first book in the Tillerman family series, ''Homecoming'', was nominated ...

, '' Dicey's Song'' *

Maia Wojciechowska Maia Teresa Wojciechowska (August 7, 1927 – June 13, 2002) was a Polish-American writer best known for children's literature, children's and young adult fiction. Her first book and two books for adults were published under her married name Mai ...

, '' Shadow of a Bull'' National Book Award * Ursula K. Le Guin, ''

'' World Fantasy Award * Patricia A. McKillip, '' The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'' Edgar Allan Poe Award *eight(?)Th
Edgars Database
reports 12 award winners with publisher/producer name = Atheneum, 1976 to 1998. The four earliest were 1976 to 1985 in the "Best Juvenile" category. Eight more were published by Atheneum while Karl was editor-at-large in retirement, include five in the Best Juvenile category and one Best Young Adult (category established 1989). All these are annual awards. The Edgars recognize mystery in several categories including

mystery fiction Mystery is a genre fiction, fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains wiktionary:mysterious, mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually prov ...

with subcategories such as short story and juvenile. The Caldecott recognizes one American children's picture book. The Newbery Medal recognizes one contribution to American children's literature, with the Newbery Honor for one or a few more distinguished nominees. The National Book Awards recognize books in four categories including young people's literature (the award to Le Guin).

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karl, Jean E. 20th-century American novelists American book editors American science fiction writers American women short story writers American women novelists Novelists from Chicago University of Mount Union alumni 1927 births 2000 deaths American women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers