Johanna Hurwitz

Who is Johanna Hurwitz?

Johanna Hurwitz is an American award-winning author of more than sixty children's books. She has sold millions of books in many different languages.

Hurwitz graduated from Queens College, New York with a degree in English and Columbia University with a master's in library science.

After many years working as a librarian, Hurwitz wrote her first book, Busybody Nora, in 1976, one of the first in the chapter books genre for transitioning young readers from shorter stories to novels. "Busybody Nora" had taken 17 times for publishing companies to publish the book. Fortunately, Ravenstone Press was pleased to publish the book after three months Johanna Hurwitz had submitted the story. Her books include biographies for children of Anne Frank, Astrid Lindgren, Leonard Bernstein, and Helen Keller. Her 1999 book, The Just Desserts Club, combined related short stories with recipes.

Hurwitz is the aunt of Garance Franke-Ruta and Ted Frank.