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LIFESTYLES

PROFILE

Amy Goldman Koss:
Author and Illustrator

CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ

Local Columnist

NAME: Amy Goldman Koss
AGE: 37
OCCUPATION: An author and illustrator
of What Luck! A Duck!, Where Do Fish
Go in Winter?, Curious Creatures in
Peculiar Places, and City Critters
Around the World. These four children's
books are published by Price, Stern and
Sloan.
EDUCATION: She graduated from
Southfield-Lathrup High School and
attended Wayne State University.
FAMILY: She is married to Mitchell Koss,
a documentary producer. She has one
child, Emily. Her parents, Max and
Harriet Goldman, reside in Farmington
Hills. Her brother, Barry, is the deputy
director of human rights for the City of
Detroit.
RESIDENCE: Los Angeles
FAVORITE BOOK: Her favorite children's
books are Pig William by Arlene
Dubanevich and The Little Prince by
Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Tin Drum by
Gunther Grass is also a favorite.
HOBBIES: "I don't have time for hobbies.
I'm either working on my books or with
my child."
LATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: "It's
publishing my latest book City Critters
Around the World?' She illustrates 16
-exotic places all over the world and
explains where the animals dwell in the
cities.
PHILOSOPHY: "It's not that creative. It's
just honesty, hard work and good
humor."

BACKGROUND: Amy Goldman Koss grew
up in Detroit and went to Schultz

Elementary School. When her family
moved to Southfield, she attended
Thompson Junior High. In 1972 she
graduated from Southfield-Lathrup High
School.
Ms. Goldman Koss describes her
youth as unconventional and admits to
being a "weird kid." "I just didn't fit in
with the rest of my family. I was
secretive. I was a dreamer, and I loved
to hang out at the zoo."
She says her parents were "good
sports" and allowed her to have a
toucan, a squirrel, two monkeys, a
parrot and 14 finches. She was not very
successful in school and would rather
have been drawing or playing with
animals. Reflecting upon these actions
as an adult, she is rather humiliated.
After high school graduation, she
traveled around the United States. She
met her husband at a Tigers baseball
game in 1981. They moved to the West
Coast and now reside in Los Angeles.
Because her. husband was in the
creative world, she decided to write.
After a "million" rejection notices, she
was able to publish some poems, articles

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and drawings in magazines and
newspapers. When she decided to write
and illustrate children's books, she
combined her talents.
"As an author and illustrator, you
never have to collaborate or compromise,
but you also work in total isolation,"
said Ms. Goldman Koss.
Since she lives in Los Angeles, she
kept submitting her work to the local
publishing house, Price Stern and
Sloan. In 1987, her first book, What
Luck! A Duck! was published. Her
second book, Where Fish Go in the
Winter, has sold 62,000 copies and was a
Children's Book-of-the-Month-Club
selection. Her third book, Curious
Creatures in Peculiar Places, was also a
Book-of-the-Month-Club selection and
winner of the 1989 John Burroughs
Award for Outstanding Nature Books.
She has just published her fourth book
City Critters Around the World. Her last
three books are nonfiction. All of her
books focus on her love for animals.
Amy Goldman Koss will appear at
Borders Bookstore in Southfield on Aug.
10, beginning at 11 a.m.

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