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AviThis article is about the author with the pen name Avi. For the file format, see AVI. Edward Irving Wortis (born December 23, 1937), better known by the pen name Avi, is a prominent American author of children's books and a winner of the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal. BiographyAvi and his twin sister Emily Wortis Ledier were born in New York City to Joseph Wortis, a psychiatrist, and Helen Zunser Wortis, a social worker. In the year after Avi's birth, his family moved to Brooklyn. When he was young his sister gave him the nickname "Avi," which he adopted as his name (he prefers not to use or reveal his given name). Two of Avi's great-grandfathers were writers, and one grandmother was a playwright. In interviews, he recalled his mother reading to him and his sister every night, and going to the public library on Fridays. Avi's brother Henry was considered a genius and went to college at age 15 (and later became a scientist). Despite an interest in reading, Avi was a poor writer and wanted to become an airplane designer and later a biologist. At Stuyvesant High School, Avi almost flunked out during the first semester because of an inability to write or spell well. Later, Avi's parents transferred him to Elisabeth Irwin High School, a smaller private school. There he studied with a tutor, Ella Ratner (who he credits for his writing success) and found that he had dysgraphia, a condition causing one to reverse or misspell words. Avi is an extremely prolific author. He has written books for many different age groups. Perhaps his most famous books fall under the category of historical fiction but he has also written fantasies, comedies, mysteries, ghost stories, adventure tales and picture books. After writing more than 20 books he was awarded a Newbery Medal for Crispin: The Cross of Lead in 2003. Bibliography
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