Donna Diamond

About Donna Diamond

Donna Diamond is an American artist and children's book illustrator, born and raised in New York City, best known for the drawings in the first edition of Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia (1977).

Diamond took a BFA in sculpture at the Boston University School of Art and then studied printmaking at Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop in New York. Blackburn encouraged her, and the drawings and monotypes she made there led to her first commissions for children's book covers.

Her best-known work is Bridge to Terabithia, published by Thomas Y. Crowell on 21 October 1977 and awarded the 1978 Newbery Medal; she also provided cover art for The Great Gilly Hopkins and Jacob Have I Loved. She also illustrated Constance C. Greene's Beat the Turtle Drum, an ALA Notable Book, and her art appears on The Day of the Unicorn, Molly and the Sword, Walter: The Story of a Rat and The Magic Menorah: A Modern Chanukah Tale. In 2010 Candlewick published The Shadow, a wordless book of 17 of her paintings. As a printmaker and artist she has received Bronx Council on the Arts BRIO awards for book arts (2008), printmaking (2011) and drawing (2013), and a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship (2017).

For collectors

The Crowell first edition of Bridge to Terabithia (1977) carries Diamond's illustrations, and its mint-green jacket is the version collectors look for. Her art also appears on Greene's Beat the Turtle Drum (Viking).