Margery Williams Bianco

Born in London on July 22, 1881, she moved to the United States as a child and later built a long writing career on both sides of the Atlantic. She published from a young age and wrote for adults as well as children, but her name became most closely linked with stories for younger readers.

Her most famous book, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922), became a classic of children's literature. Its gentle mix of tenderness, imagination, and emotional honesty helped it endure far beyond its first publication, and it remains the work many readers discover first.

She also wrote under the names Margery Williams and Margery Bianco. She died in New York City on September 4, 1944, but her best-loved stories still feel intimate and alive, especially to readers who remember how serious and magical childhood can be.