James Stevenson papers

James Stevenson (Yale 1951) was an American illustrator and writer. He worked as a cartoonist for The New Yorker from 1956 to 2003 and was the author and illustrator of more than 100 children’s picture books. Stevenson was born on July 11, 1929 in New York City to architect Harvey Stevenson and Winifred Worcester and attended the private Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York. He received a B.A. in English from Yale in 1951, where he worked on the campus humor magazine The Yale Record. While a student at Yale, he submitted cartoon ideas and sketches to The New Yorker. He was hired by the magazine in 1956 to develop ideas for the art department before starting to draw cartoons himself. During his 47-year career at The New Yorker, he published 1,988 cartoons and 79 magazine covers. He also began working as a reporter in 1960 and continued to contribute articles and essays, such as pieces for “The Talk of the Town” section, after retiring from the magazine in 2003. He previously worked as a reporter for Life from 1953 to 1954, and later wrote the column “Lost and Found New York” for The New York Times from 2003 to 2009.

Stevenson published his first children’s book, Walker, the Witch, and the Striped Flying Saucer, in 1969. One of his earliest books, If I Owned a Candy Factory, was written in collaboration with his young son James in 1968. Other titles include The Worst Person in the World (1978), Don’t You Know There’s a War On? (1992), and No Laughing, No Giggling, No Smiling (2004). His books What’s Under My Bed? (1983) and Could Be Worse! (1987) were featured on the PBS Reading Rainbow television show. Could Be Worse! was also selected as The New York Times Outstanding Children’s Book of the Year. In addition to his many picture books, Stevenson published adult and young adult novels, several illustrated collections of his poetry, and an illustrated biography of fellow New Yorker cartoonist Frank Modell. He also illustrated books for authors such as Judy Blume, Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky, Cynthia Rylant, and Alan Arkin. Stevenson married Jane Walker in 1953, and later painter Josephine Merck in 1993. He was the father of nine children and a longtime resident of Cos Cob, Connecticut, where he died on February 17, 2017.