Leo Gurko facts for kids

Leo Gurko (born January 4, 1914 – died 2008) was a Polish-American writer. He was famous for writing biographies, which are books about real people's lives. He wrote these books mostly between the 1940s and 1970s. One of his most well-known books, Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle, won a special award called the Newbery Honor in 1958. Gurko also wrote books about famous authors like Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe. Besides writing, he worked for a publishing company called Macmillan Inc. and taught English at Hunter College.

About Leo Gurko

Early Life and School

Leo Gurko was born in Warsaw, Poland, on January 4, 1914. When he was a kid, he went to schools in different places, including New York state, Detroit, and Hamtramck, Michigan. When he was younger, he dreamed of playing baseball for the Detroit Tigers. Later, he thought about working in diplomacy or as a spy after reading exciting books by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Gurko finished high school when he was only thirteen years old. He then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the City of Detroit in 1931. After that, he studied at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1930s, where he earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

His Career as a Writer and Teacher

Gurko started his career in 1934 as an editor for a publishing company called G. P. Putnam's Sons. In 1936, he began working as a "first reader" for Macmillan Inc., which meant he was one of the first people to read new book ideas. He stayed at Macmillan until 1962.

While working at Macmillan, Gurko also started teaching. In 1938, he became an English instructor at Hunter College. He later became a professor and then the head of the English department in 1954. He held this important position until 1960. During his time as a professor, Gurko received a special award from Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1947 for an early version of his book The Angry Decade. This book was published later that year. It was about the ten years between the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Famous Books and Awards

In the 1950s, Leo Gurko published two important books. The first was Heroes, Highbrows, and the Popular Mind in 1953. The second was Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle in 1957. This book was a biography for children about Thomas Paine, a very important figure in American history. The next year, in 1958, Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle received a Newbery Honor. This is a highly respected award for children's literature.

Gurko continued to write biographies in the 1960s. He wrote two books about the author Joseph Conrad in 1962 and 1965. He also published a book about Ernest Hemingway in 1968 and one about Thomas Wolfe in 1975. In 1979, he re-released his 1962 book on Joseph Conrad, adding a new introduction to it.

Personal Life

Leo Gurko was married and had two children. He passed away in 2008.