Hamilton King
 HAMILTON KING AWARD 2007 Ted Lewin grew up in an old frame house in Buffalo with a lion, an iguana, a chimpanzee and an assortment of more conventional pets. His mother convinced him to give it to the Buffalo Zoo. As a child Ted copied the works of artists he admired, including N. C. Wyeth, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Valazquez and Goya. When he enrolled at Pratt Institute, to finance his education, following in his older brother’s footsteps, he took a summer job as a wrestler — the beginning of a 15 year part-time career. Ted’s career began with illustrations for adventure magazines, but over the last 20 years he has devoted full time to writing and illustrating childrens books. “I’m having more fun doing this than anything I’ve ever done before,” he says. He is an avid traveler, and many of his books are inspired by trips to such places as the Amazon River, the Sahara Desert, Botswana, Egypt, Lapland and India. His Market! showcases markets around the world, from Uganda to Ireland to Ecuador. Touch and Go is a collection of stories about the adventures Ted had while researching his books. Gorilla Walk is his first collaboration with his wife, Betsy, and is about their trek to see the mountain gorillas in Uganda. They've just completed their second collaboration, Elephant Quest, set in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Ted and Betsy live in Brooklyn, New York, where they share their home with two cats, Slick and Chopper. |
