Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

: Dive into the life, writings, and impact of Lois Lowry, the celebrated American author known for The Giver, Number the Stars, and many works that challenge young readers. Discover her biography, themes, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Lois Lowry (born March 20, 1937) is one of the most influential and beloved American writers of children’s and young adult literature. Over a prolific career spanning decades, she has published dozens of books that address deep, sometimes difficult themes—memory, identity, loss, freedom—while maintaining accessibility for younger audiences. Her works like Number the Stars and The Giver have earned her two prestigious Newbery Medals and a permanent place in the canon of literature for youth.

Lowry’s power lies in her ability to pose profound questions through compelling stories, inviting readers to think deeply about the world and their place in it. Her influence continues to ripple through school curricula, literary discussions, and adaptations, making her an essential figure in modern literature for young minds.

Early Life and Family

Lois Ann Hammersberg (later Lowry) was born on March 20, 1937, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Robert E. Hammersberg, an Army dentist, and Katherine Landis Hammersberg, a kindergarten teacher.

Because her father’s military career required frequent relocations, Lois spent her childhood moving across states and overseas.

• In 1939, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York.

• In 1942, they relocated to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where Lowry lived with her mother and siblings while her father was deployed.

• Later, from about 1948 to 1950, she lived in Tokyo while her father served overseas.

Lois was the middle child, with an older sister Helen and a younger brother Jon.

From an early age, she was an avid reader. She reportedly began reading at age three and skipped second grade thanks to her aptitude.

Youth and Education

Lois’s schooling was punctuated by frequent moves. She attended schools in Pennsylvania, New York, and abroad during her formative years. Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, New York, in 1954.

In 1954, she entered Pembroke College (affiliated with Brown University) to pursue English, but she left school in 1956 upon marrying Donald Grey Lowry, a U.S. Navy officer.

After years of raising children and moving with her husband’s military assignments, Lowry later completed her degree in English Literature at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, graduating in 1972.

Career and Achievements

From Early Writing to First Novel

Lowry began her career as a freelance journalist, writing short stories and articles, often for publications aimed at adults. A Summer to Die, which fictionalized the experience of losing her sister.

From there, she began writing novels for children and young adults, often weaving in serious and emotionally resonant themes.

Signature Works & Awards

Lois Lowry is perhaps best known for:

• Number the Stars (1989) — a historical novel set in Nazi-occupied Denmark, about the rescue of Danish Jews. This book won the Newbery Medal in 1990.

• The Giver (1993) — a dystopian novel about a society that suppresses emotions and memory; it earned her a second Newbery Medal in 1994.

• She continued the universe of The Giver with Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004), and Son (2012), forming The Giver Quartet.

• Lowry also wrote the Anastasia series, Sam series, Gooney Bird series, standalone novels (e.g. Autumn Street, Rabble Starkey, The Silent Boy), and Looking Back, her memoir.

Her books are known not just for narrative interest, but for grappling with death, memory, choice, authority, and the human condition—even in works for younger readers.

Lowry’s works have sometimes stirred controversy: The Giver, in particular, has been challenged or banned in some school libraries for dealing with themes of euthanasia, suicide, violence, and control.

Later Life & Reflection

In 1995, Lowry experienced a profound personal tragedy: her son Grey, a U.S. Air Force pilot, died in a fighter plane crash. She cited that loss as one of the hardest in her life and later used writing as a way to honor memory and grapple with grief.

In her later years, she has lived in Maine and Florida (some seasons in each), dividing time and continuing to write and speak.

Historical Context & Themes

Lowry’s career emerged during the late 20th century, when young adult literature was expanding its boundaries—no longer confined to simplistic or benign topics. Her willingness to pose morally complex questions and confront challenging historical or speculative realities placed her at the vanguard of that shift.

She often uses dystopia (The Giver) or historical backdrop (Number the Stars) to explore universal human dilemmas: memory, suffering, individual vs. society, and the cost of safety or conformity.

Her work also emphasizes interdependence—how our choices affect others, and how connection, empathy, and remembrance are vital. On her official site, she writes:

“All of [my books] deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections.”

Her personal history—losing her sister, moving internationally, coping with grief—provides both emotional texture and consistency in her themes of loss, memory, and resilience.

Legacy and Influence

Lois Lowry stands as a towering figure in children’s and young adult literature for several reasons:

1. Literary courage
   She showed that books for younger audiences could tackle serious issues—death, freedom, ethics—without disrespecting their readers’ intelligence.

2. Enduring classics
   The Giver and Number the Stars continue to be taught widely, adapted into other media, and discussed in academic and literary circles.

3. Shaping the YA dystopia genre
   Her work helped pave the way for later dystopian/ speculative fiction for teens (e.g. The Hunger Games, Divergent) by showing that the genre could raise moral and philosophical stakes.

4. Championing memory and empathy
   Through her repeated focus on connection, she underscores literature’s role in sustaining memory and humanizing experience.

5. Inspiring writers and readers
   Many authors in the YA world cite Lowry as a formative influence. Her blend of accessible prose and thematic depth is often held as a model.

Personality and Talents

Lois Lowry is often described as thoughtful, humble, principled, and quietly passionate. Her public persona is not flamboyant but measured—she speaks with care about her craft, children’s minds, and the weight of memory.

She works with clarity and restraint, avoiding gimmickry or sensationalism; her voice often feels intimate, as if speaking to the reader directly.

Her life experience—loss, travel, parenthood, grief—has given her a reservoir of emotional insight, which she channels into her fiction with balance and earnestness.

Selected Quotes of Lois Lowry

Here are a few memorable lines attributed to (or widely associated with) Lois Lowry’s thought and voice:

“Memories, even bittersweet ones, are better than nothing.”

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

“You may lie to others, but you can’t lie to yourself.”

“Look and I will be there. Show me and I will understand.”

“We must never forget who we are — even if it seems simpler to forget.”

“It is impossible to go on being a person without inward—not inarticulate—memories.”

These reflect her consistent engagement with memory, identity, truth, and human connection.

Lessons from Lois Lowry

Here are a few enduring lessons we can draw from her life and work:

• Don’t underestimate young readers
  Lowry trusted that young people could face complex moral questions, and she honored their capacity for thought and feeling.

• Tackle big ideas through small stories
  Her narratives are often intimate (a family, a single child, a community) even when exploring broad themes.

• Memory matters
  In her fiction and in life, remembering is an act of resistance—against forgetting, repression, or control.

• Loss can be transformed
  She turned grief into stories that help readers (and herself) understand loss, healing, and persistence.

• Write with moral purpose
  Her fiction is not preachy, but it often carries ethical weight—raising questions without forced answers.

Conclusion

Lois Lowry is a writer whose work transcends age categories. Her stories have delighted children, provoked teenagers, and challenged adults. By merging clarity, emotional honesty, and intellectual depth, she has given readers tools to think about memory, identity, morality, and human connection.