Gail Haley Oral History Interviews

Collection

Identifier: OH-GH

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

In this series of sixteen interviews, Gail E. Haley, a prolific author born in Charlotte, North Carolina and the first of only two authors to win the American Caldecott Medal and the British Kate Greenaway Medal for picture book illustration, discusses her life and career as a children’s author and illustrator. Throughout the interviews, Ms. Haley describes her artistic process, detailing her inspirations and research as well as techniques she employed and pioneered in order to illustrate her works.

Dates

Creation: 2005 - 2009

Language of Materials

The material is in English

Conditions Governing Access

Interviews available in digital repository. Original audiovisual materials closed to patron use.

Conditions Governing Use

The materials included on this web site are freely available for private study, scholarship or non-commercial research under the fair use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, United States Code). Any use beyond the provisions of fair use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication, broadcast, redistribution or mounting on another web site always require prior written permission and may also be subject to additional restrictions and fees. UNC Charlotte does not hold literary rights to all materials in its collections and the researcher is responsible for securing those rights when needed. Copyright information for specific collections is available upon request.]

Biographical Note

Gail Einhart Haley, the daughter of George Einhart and Louise Bell, was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1939, and grew up in the rural Shuffletown area, just outside of the city. Her father was the art director of the Charlotte Observer and her mother was also an artist. In addition to an interest in art, she also learned about printing techniques, including traditional block printing, and color separation. Later, her interests took her into costume design and puppetry; knowledge she would employ in illustrating her books.

Haley made her literary debut by self-publishing her first book, My Kingdom for a Dragon, in 1962, financing its publication with a bank loan. Her first notable success in writing children's literature was A Story, A Story, which won her the famed Caldecott Medal in 1971. Later, while living in England, she wrote The Post Office Cat, for which she won the Greenaway Award in 1976. Part of Haley's success in writing children's literature is the didactic nature of her stories. To date, she has written over forty books.

Haley, who has traveled extensively, and lived in the Caribbean, England and Asia, derives her literary inspiration from the places she visits. She is one of the very few authors to win both the British and American awards for illustration.

She now resides at Blowing Rock, North Carolina. She is the author-in-residence at Appalachian State University.