George Ancona

Who is George Ancona?

George Ancona is an American photo essayist and creator of photo-illustrated children's picture books. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrants from Mexico. He painted signs for Coney Island at "12 or 13" years and as a teenager "knew I would become an artist". As of 2008 he lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2002, Ancona received the Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award.

Ancona creates books for children ages 8 to 12. The photographs tell the story, he explained to students for Scholastic Corporation.

Do you have a story in mind before you take the pictures, or do you take the pictures and then write the story?

Before I start taking pictures I create a sequence that will fit in a 48-page book. Then I start taking pictures and assign the pictures to the squares I drew. Once I have pictures telling the story I start writing in sequence, which is dictated by the pictures. I let the pictures tell me the story. I find that I do better if I know nothing about a subject before I start the book. The discovery of a subject is what makes it fun and that makes the book fun. I like to end up with a life experience that will enrich my life.