Theodore (Ted) Taylor was born on June 23, 1921, in Statesville, North Carolina. He was the son of a rough and tumble father and a delicate, religious mother. Taylor and his four sisters could never understand how their parents found each other and married. Life was never easy for the Taylors, and the Great Depression sent his father away in search of work. His father kept in touch and in no way deserted them. Taylor also did his part to help the family. He wrote, "It did not occur to me until years later that there was anything exceptional about a boy just shy of ten getting up at 4:30 A.M. to walk, not bicycle, to a local hotel, pick up sixty-odd newspapers, deliver them by 7:00, come home, have breakfast, and go off to school." He also sold candy and picked up scrap metal to resell to a junkyard. Childhood was not all work, for Taylor excelled in the practice of freedom by roaming fields and muddy creeks near his home. The family moved to Virginia, where the family in The Cay originated, when Taylor's father found work at a naval yard. Taylor obtained his first writing job when he was thirteen. He wrote the local high school's sports column for a Virginia newspaper. After graduating from high school, he worked for a Washington, D.C., newspaper. He never attended college, which he always regretted; however, he stated that "these newspapers I worked for were to be my college and my graduate school." During the Korean War, in the 1950's, he found himself stationed with the naval reserve in the Caribbean. His unit provided hurricane relief on many of the smaller islands. Here he found his settings and conflicts for The Cay. "I got the idea for The Cay from Coast Guard research on an adult book." The two main characters for The Cay were modeled after real people, and the plot is based on a true incident. It took three weeks to write The Cay. After Taylor left the U.S. Navy, he made his way to California as a press agent for a Hollywood film production company. He became a story editor and eventually as assistant to the producer. But he left Hollywood to make documentary films, many of the "behind the scenes" films for television. His hobbies are ocean fishing and foreign travel. Taylor has written more than fifty fiction and non-fiction books for youth and adults. His first published novel was an adult book entitled The Magnificent Mitscher: W. W. Norton. He has achieved 23 awards. "I've been very lucky" is his comment about his success. The hard-working author now writes seven days a week, except for football season when he takes weekends off, in his home office surrounded by trees. His home is three blocks from the Pacific Ocean in California. He is married and has a nuclear family with six children. His dog Hyra usually sleeps by his feet as he listens to classical CD's and writes. Taylor admits to a 64 year writing career, as of 1999. As of February, 1999, his next book will be an autobiography entitled Excelsior, Excelsior. His all-time favorite book is Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. My students write personal letters to "Ted" after completing The Cay. He has always responded. He also sends me notice of his newest releases. The students are so thrilled to have a real author write back to them. This year he sent each of my team's 90 students who wrote to him a personalized and autographed brochure. Needless to say, they were thrilled. Ted now has a website at www.theodoretaylor.com. His assistant can be reached at bljserv@home.com. Taylor can also be reached at his home address: 1856 Catalina Street in Laguna Beach, CA 92615. He has three different publicity departments with his publishers: Random House 1540 Broadway New York, NY Harcourt Brace 525 B St., Suite 1900 San Diego, CA Avon 1350 Ave. of the Americas New York, NY Update: In the spring of 2000, I received a letter from Ted stating his frustration and anger over the new Random House edition of The Cay. The jacket is not indicative of the setting, characters, and plot. He was never consulted; in fact, he ran into it accidentally. It is truly a marketing advantage for Random House yet an author's nightmare. He has asked that we write to Random House in order to convince them to NOT use the same cover on the Laurel Leaf paperback, which is certain to follow. To quote from Ted's letter to me, "It's the worst and most devious experience of my career and if you agree that the jacket is hideous and incorrect please write
Christina Peterson, President
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