For the Love of Autumn

Patricia Polacco was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1944. Soon after her birth, she lived in Williamston, Michigan, and then moved onto her grandparents’ farm in Union City, Michigan. She lived on the farm with her mom and grandparents until 1949. She says that living on that little farm with them was the most magical time of her life, and that her Babushka and other grandparents were some of the most inspirational people in her life.

Her parents were divorced when she was 3, and both her father and mother moved back into the homes of their parents. She spent the school year with her mother, and the summers with her dad. In both households, she was the apple of her grandparents’ eyes and feels that these relationships with her grandparents have most definitely influenced her life and her work.

The respect that she learned as a very young person carried over into her life in later years. She has always liked hearing stories from folks and her genuine curiosity for the wonder of living a very long life prepared her to accept the declining years of her own parents.

In 1949 she left the farm to move, first to Coral Gables, Florida. She lived there with her Mom and her brother, Richard, for almost 3 years. Then they moved to Oakland, California, where she remained for most of her young life on into her adulthood. She met her best friend, Stewart Grinnell Washington, there. As a student in elementary school, she had a terrible time with reading and math. She didn’t learn how to read until she was almost 14 years old and felt trapped in a body that wouldn’t do what everybody else could do. When she was fourteen, it was learned that she has a learning disability called dyslexia. One of her teachers helped her get the help she needed to succeed in school.

She went on to University, majored in Fine Art, then went on to do a graduate degree and even ended up with a Ph.D. in Art History. For a time, she restored ancient pieces of art for museums. She eventually became the mother of two children, Steven and Traci, and devoted much of her days to their education and upbringing.

She did not start writing children’s books until she was 41 years old. She came from a family of incredible storytellers from the Ukraine, Russia, Ireland, and the bayous of Louisiana. At the age of 41, she started putting stories that she told down on paper and did drawings to help illustrate them.

She has enjoyed a wonderful career of writing books for children. She now lives back in Union City and intends to open her house and community and invite people to come there to take part in writing seminars, story telling festivals, literature conferences, and various events that celebrate children’s literature.

Born Patricia Ann Barber in Lansing, Michigan, to parents of Russian and Ukrainian descent on one side and Irish on the other, Patricia Polacco grew up in both California and Michigan. She describes her family members as marvelous storytellers. “My fondest memories are of sitting around a stove or open fire, eating apples and popping corn while listening to the old ones tell glorious stories about their homeland and the past. We are tenacious traditionalists and sentimentalists…. With each retelling our stories gain a little more Umph!”

Studying in the United States and Australia, Patricia Polacco has earned an M.F.A. and a Ph. D. in art history, specializing in Russian and Greek painting, and iconographic history. She is a museum consultant on the restoration of icons. As a participant in many citizen exchange programs for writers and illustrators, Patricia Polacco has traveled extensively. She continues to support programs that encourage friendships and understanding. She is also deeply involved in inner-city projects here in the U.S. that promote the peaceful resolution of conflict and encourage art and literacy programs.

The mother of a grown son and a daughter, Patricia Polacco currently resides in Michigan, where she has a glorious old farm that was built during the time of Lincoln.

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