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Richard Michelson

American writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ7327799
Source-derived summary

Richard Michelson (born July 3, 1953) is a poet and a children's book author. He is the first author to receive both of the top two book awards given by the Association of Jewish Libraries in a single year.

In January 2009, Michelson's book titled As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom, was awarded the Sydney Taylor Book Award Gold Medal from the Association of Jewish Libraries, and A is for Abraham, was awarded the Silver Medal. This was the first time in the award's 50-year history that a single author was honored with both of their top two awards. Michelson received his 2nd Silver Medal in 2017 and his 2nd Gold Medal in 2018.

Michelson has twice been a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award (2008, 2006) and won the 2017 National Jewish Book Award for The Language of Angels. He was twice the recipient of the Skipping Stones Multicultural Book Award (2009, 2003). Other recognition includes a National Network of Teachers of the Year Social Justice Award 2017, two Massachusetts Book Award Finalist (2017, 2009), two NYTimes Notable Children's Books (2010, 2011), a 2007 Teacher's Choice Award from the International Reading Association, and a 2007 Publishers Weekly Best Book Award. In 2019 Michelson became the sixth recipient of the Samuel Minot Jones Award for Literary Achievement.

Clemson University named Michelson as the Richard J. Calhoun Distinguished Reader in American Literature for 2008, and he was the featured poet for the 20th Anniversary edition of Image Journal: Art Faith Mystery.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Richard Michelson” as american writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Richard, Michelson and American.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 2009, 2017, 2018—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1953-07-03. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Richard, Michelson and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Richard Michelson”, the useful work is to connect “american writer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7327799. VIAF identifies the subject as 267166906. The Library of Congress control number is n85109369. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 2009, 2017 and 2018.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Richard Michelson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Richard Michelson primary sources, Richard Michelson archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Richard Michelson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.