Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (November 12, 1928 – March 12, 2019 ) was an American children's writer. She wrote more than 130 books for children and teens and her books have been translated into several languages. They have won awards including Book of the Year by the Library of Congress or have become selections by the Literary Guild. Perhaps Sharmat's most popular work features the child detective Nate the Great. He was inspired by and named after her father, who lived to see the first Nate book published. One story, Nate the Great Goes Undercover, was adapted as a made-for-TV movie that won the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival Award. Sharmat's husband Mitchell Sharmat expanded Nate's storyline by creating Olivia Sharp, his cousin and fellow detective. Husband and wife wrote four Olivia Sharp books published 1989 to 1991. During the 1990s, their son Craig Sharmat (then in his thirties) wrote three Nate books with his mother. In the late 2010s, their other son Andrew co-wrote the last two Nate books written while Marjorie Weinman Sharmat was alive. With Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's passing in 2019 Andrew has continued writing the series with Nate the Great and the Earth Day Robot (2021). In the mid-1980s Sharmat wrote three books published in 1984 and 1985 under the pseudonym Wendy Andrews (below). Sharmat also wrote the Sorority Sisters series, eight short novels published in 1986 and 1987 (not listed below). They are romantic fiction with a sense of humor. They are set in a California public high school (day school for ages 14 to 18, approximately).

Life

Sharmat, who was born in Portland, Maine, on November 12, 1928, graduated from Westbrook Junior College in 1948. Sharmat's parents were Nathan and Anna Richardson Weinman. Nathan Weinman was a dry goods manufacturer and dealer. She had one sister, Rosalind. Sharmat died on March 12, 2019, at the age of 90.

Works

Many of Sharmat's publications belong to one of the series (below) Nate the Great (from 1972), Morris Brookside (1973–1974), Olivia Sharp (1989–1991), or Duz Shedd (1993–2000).

Morris Brookside

Illustrated by Ronald Himler:

Duz Shedd, or Genghis Kahn

Illustrated by Mitchell Rigie:

Nate the Great

Illustrated by Marc Simont; later by Martha Weston (as chapter books) and Jody Wheeler (also as chapter books):

Olivia Sharp

Featuring Nate the Great's cousin, Olivia Sharp, "Agent for Secrets". Co-written with husband Mitchell Sharmat, and illustrated by Denise Brunkus: