Else Holmelund Minarik

Else Holmelund Minarik (née Holmelund; September 13, 1920 – July 12, 2012) was a Danish-born American author known for creating over 40 children's books. Her most famous work is the Little Bear series, which has been adapted into a television show. She also wrote *No Fighting, No Biting!*.

Minarik was born in Denmark and immigrated to the United States at age four with her family. Influenced by Hans Christian Andersen’s stories as a child, she later earned a BA from Queens College in 1942. During World War II, she worked as a journalist for *The Daily Sentinel* before becoming a first-grade teacher on Long Island, where she was inspired to write her first book, *Little Bear*, to provide reading material for her students.

After her first marriage to Walter Minarik (who died in 1963), she remarried Pulitzer-winning journalist Homer Bigart in 1970. Following his death in 1991, she moved to Sunset Beach, North Carolina, continuing to write by hand until her final book, *Little Bear and the Marco Polo*, published in 2010.

Minarik passed away at home in July 2012 after complications from a heart attack. Her contributions to children’s literature include several illustrated works with notable illustrators like Maurice Sendak and Dorothy Doubleday.