With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Patricia Hubbell
1928 – 2022
- Biography/Description of Work
Children’s book author Patricia Hubbell started out as a reporter and columnist. She began writing children’s books in the early 1960s. From her obituary in the Newtown Bee: Patricia was an award-winning poet and children’s book author, writing under her maiden name, Patricia Hubbell. Her mother and grandmother read poems to her as a little girl, inspiring her love of poetry writing by the third grade. She was a graduate of The University of Connecticut, where she studied English and agriculture. Patricia published dozens of books throughout her five-decade career, including The Apple Vendor’s Fair, A Grass Green Gallop, Wrapping Paper Romp, and Black All Around. Patricia was a finalist and winner of numerous awards, including Nick Jr Best Books of the Year, Bank Street College Best Books of the Year, Parents Magazine Best Books of the Year, American Bookseller’s Association Kids’ Pick of the Lists, and the Sequoyah Oklahoma Children’s Book Award. Her poems appear in more than 200 anthologies worldwide.
From an interview on the Lee & Low Books website: When asked how she got started writing, Hubbell responded, “I got started writing by sitting up in a tree, looking out over the meadow and reservoir across from my home, thinking about what I saw.” She says it is in every day life that she finds her ideas for stories and poems. “I’ve gotten ideas from everywhere!” exclaims Hubbell. “From things I do, things I see, things I hear. I’ve gotten ideas from gravel paths, from a starfish, from my Dad’s apple orchard, from the sight of a chair sitting unsat on in a sunny room.”
- Associated Resource(s)