Beloved children’s book author Tomie dePaola died, his publisher announced on Monday. He was 85 years old. He was best known for writing the Strega Nona series and 26 Fairmount Avenue. “We mourn the loss of a master storyteller. Tomie dePaola has passed away. We extend our sympathy to his legions of readers, friends, and colleagues,” Winding Oak Children’s Literature wrote on Facebook.

Born into a family of Irish and Italian heritage, dePaola was originally from Meriden, Connecticut. He later moved to New Hampshire, where he lived in a refurbished 200-year-old barn. In 2014, he told New Hampshire Home magazine the barn was a “dream come true.”