Ellen Raskin

Biography

Ellen Raskin (1928-1984) was a graphic designer and illustrator before she became a novelist. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she won the Newbery Medal for The Westing Game in 1979 — the same year she was diagnosed with the connective tissue disease that would kill her at fifty-six. She wrote with visual precision, designing her books as graphic objects as much as narrative ones. Her background in design is visible in every page of The Westing Game: the characters are introduced with the economy of a logo, the plot is structured like a layout, and the clues are placed with a graphic designer's sense of where the eye will go.

Ellen Raskin at a glance