Jill Krementz facts for kids

Jill Krementz (born February 19, 1940) is a famous American photographer and author. She has written and taken pictures for 31 books. Many of these books are for children. She was married to the well-known writer Kurt Vonnegut for almost 30 years.

A Life in Pictures: Jill Krementz's Story

Jill Krementz grew up in Morristown, New Jersey. When she was a teenager, she moved to New York City. In 1961, she received a Nikon camera for her 21st birthday. This gift helped her start a great career as a photographer. She also became a photojournalist, which means she took pictures for news stories.

Early Photography and News Events

In the 1960s, Jill worked as a photographer for a newspaper called the New York Herald-Tribune. She took amazing color photos of the 1967 March on the Pentagon. This was a big protest in Washington D.C. Her photos were so good that one was featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. In 1965, she even spent a year in Vietnam. She took pictures there during the Vietnam War to show what was happening. Her news photos have also appeared in The New York Observer.

Photographing Famous Writers

Later in her career, Jill Krementz started taking pictures of writers. She noticed there weren't many good photos of authors. So, in 1970, she decided to fix that! She built a huge collection of author photographs. Most of her pictures from this time were in black and white. She worked with simple camera gear. Soon, she had photos of hundreds of writers.

Family Life and Special Recognition

In 1970, Jill met the famous writer Kurt Vonnegut. They met during the making of his play Happy Birthday, Wanda June. They got married in 1979. In 1982, they adopted a baby girl named Lily. Jill and Kurt stayed married until he passed away in 2007.

Jill's photographs were shown in art galleries in New York. In 1980, she published a book called The Writer's Image. This book had many of her black-and-white photos. Kurt Vonnegut even wrote the introduction for it! In 1984, Jill Krementz won a special award. It was the Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. She won it for making "creatively produced books, works that make a difference."

In 2004, a big show of her work happened. It was at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The show was called Writers Unbound. It featured warm and personal pictures of authors. You could see them in their homes and at their desks.