Neal Porter is an American

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

. He is the founder of Neal Porter Books, an imprint of

Holiday House A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

. After a brief stint in the college textbook department of

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

he moved into trade publishing, in 1977, where he held marketing positions at

Avon Books Avon Publications is a leading publisher of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and ma ...

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

, Atheneum and

Scribners 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, Marjor ...

. In 1985 he became Editorial Director of

Aladdin Books 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 a ...

at Macmillan, and in 1987 he moved to London to become Joint Managing Director of

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

in London. He returned to the United States in 1989 as Vice President and Publisher of Macmillan Children's Books and subsequently held executive positions at

Orchard Books Grolier is one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including ''The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Academ ...

and

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

(DK). In 2000 he decided to step away from administration and focus exclusively on editing books. In 2002 at Holtzbrinck, he helped to found

Roaring Brook Press A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is loud, deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of ...

, where he was Editorial Director of Neal Porter Books, and a leading voice in children's publishing. In 2017, he moved the imprint to Holiday House, where he currently works. Authors and illustrators he has worked with include

Laura Vaccaro Seeger Laura Vaccaro Seeger is an American author and illustrator of children's books. She has often appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and has won the Caldecott Honor twice, the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe-Ho ...

, Philip and Erin Stead, Mark Shulman,

Nick Bruel Nicholas Tung Ming Bruel is an American author and illustrator of children’s books, most notably the ''Bad Kitty'' series. The first book in the series, ''Bad Kitty'', is an alphabet-themed picture book, and expanded series includes both pic ...

, Yuyi Morales, Jason Chin, Antoinette Portis, Sandra Jordan, Betsy and Ted Lewin, Wendell Minor, and Matt Davies. Books he has edited have received many awards and honors, including the

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 ...

, four

Caldecott honor 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 ...

medals, two Theodore Geisel Honors, two Sibert Honors, the

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The ''Boston Globe''–''Horn'' Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonficti ...

, three Pura Belpré Awards, the

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award recognizes o ...

, two Orbis Pictus Awards, the Ezra Jack Keats Award, an ALA Best Fiction citation, and numerous other

ALA Notable Books American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists which are part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adu ...

citations. In September 2015, he received a prestigious Carle Honor for his contribution to picture books. Neal Porter resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

References

External links

Society of Editors keynote announcement
(access denied)
Bologna Children's Book Fair 2010 presenters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Neal American book editors American publishers (people) Living people Year of birth missing (living people)