Illana Katz

Who is Illana Katz?

Illana Katz is an author, lecturer, and founder of Real Life Storybooks, a publisher of special needs storybooks for children. Motivated by the late 1980s news that her son Seth had autism, Katz began to educate herself about autism, including researching into the life of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. After writing Joey and Sam: A Heartwarming Storybook About Autism, a Family, and a Brother's Love in 1993, circumstances led Katz to write Sarah, a 1994 book about child molestation. By 1995 Katz and her collaborator, UCLA professor Dr. Edward Ritvo, had gathered enough material to write their 1995 book, In a World of His Own: A Storybook About Albert Einstein, in which they concluded that Einstein did have autism. Katz continues to work in the special needs profession.