Byrd Baylor

Byrd Baylor (March 28, 1924 – June 16, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, and author of picture books for children. Four of her books have achieved Caldecott Honor status.

Background
Byrd Baylor was born in March 1924 in San Antonio, Texas. She was related to Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, the namesake of Baylor University, and to Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Her first name, Byrd, is taken from her mother's maiden name.

Baylor attended the University of Arizona.

Writing
Baylor's work presents images of the Southwest and an intense connection between the land and the Native American people. Her prose illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world, and the balance of life within it. She wrote an essay entitled Good Women Who Love Bad Trucks which she read aloud for radio station KXCI. Byrd contributed essays to Tucson's City Magazine in the late 1980s.

Personal life
Baylor latterly lived in Arivaca, Arizona, in an adobe house that did not have electricity. She worked with three manual typewriters.

She died in June 2021 at the age of 97.

Caldecott Honors
Baylor was awarded Caldecott Honors for her books When Clay Sings (1973) with illustrator Tom Bahti, and The Desert is Theirs (1976), Hawk, I'm Your Brother (1977), and The Way to Start a Day (1979) with illustrator Peter Parnall.