Pipers at the Gates of Dawn
The Wisdom of Children's Literature
Jonathan Cott’s reflections and conversations with six celebrated children’s authors—now in a new edition
Pipers at the Gates of Dawn is a unique ensemble bringing together Jonathan Cott’s encounters and conversations with some of the most celebrated children’s authors of the twentieth century. “Children’s literature,” he states, “brings us back to experiencing our earliest and deepest feelings and truths. It is our link to the past and a path to the future. And in it we find ourselves.” Cott’s firm belief is that children’s literature can impart wisdom and delight to everyone, and he believes that the masterpieces of children’s literature are simply masterpieces of literature in miniature, conveyors of wisdom and wonder.
Pipers at the Gates of Dawn consists of Cott’s essay-interviews with Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), Maurice Sendak, William Steig, Astrid Lindgren, Chinua Achebe, P. L.Travers, and with Iona and Peter Opie, the great scholars of the lore, games, and language of schoolchildren. He explores with the authors themselves the lives of their created characters and the character of their own lives. All share with Cott an impassioned sense of the richness and complexity of childhood, and of the enduring importance of children’s literature in the lives of all of us.
Jonathan Cott is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. He is author of twenty books, including Listening: Interviews, 1970–1989; Days That I’ll Remember: Spending Time with John and Yoko; and There’s a Mystery There: The Primal Vision of Maurice Sendak. Cott also collaborated with Sendak on Victorian Color Picture Books and is editor of Beyond the Looking Glass: Extraordinary Works of Fairy Tale and Fantasy. He lives in New York City.
Maria Popova is founder of the weekly newsletter Brain Pickings and author of Figuring. A writer, literary and culture critic, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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