Scott O'Dell - Biography

Biography

Scott O'Dell was born O'Dell Gabriel Scott but his name was published wrong on the book and he decided to keep the name Scott O'Dell. He was born on Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California, to parents May Elizabeth Gabriel and Bennett Mason Scott. He attended multiple colleges, including Occidental College in 1919, the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1920, Stanford University in 1920-1921, and the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1925. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Air Force. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was employed as a cameraman and technical director, as a book columnist for the Los Angeles Mirror, and as book review editor for the Los Angeles Daily News.

In 1934, O'Dell began writing articles as well as fiction and nonfiction books for adults. In the late 1950s, he began writing children’s books. Scott O’Dell received the Hans Christian Andersen Award for lifetime achievement in 1972. In 1976, he received the University of Southern Mississippi Silver Medallion, and the Regina Medal in 1978.

In 1981, he established the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, an award for $5,000 that recognizes outstanding works of historical fiction. The winners must be published in English by a U.S. publisher and be set in the New World (North, Central, and South America). In 1986, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books awarded O’Dell this same award.