June 10: Maurice Sendak, Writer and Illustrator

b. June 10, 1928

"Inside all of us is a Wild Thing."

Hailed as the Picasso of children’s literature, Maurice Sendak has captured the imagination of readers young and old for more than 40 years. A prolific author and illustrator, he has published over 100 works of children's fiction.

Sendak has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Caldecott Medal, the National Book Award and the National Medal of Arts. PBS describes him as “one of the most consistently inventive and challenging voices in children’s literature. His books and productions are among the best-loved, imaginative works of their time.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants, Sendak was plagued with illness in his early childhood. He spent most of his time indoors where he occupied himself with books. Having discovered his creative voice at a young age, Sendak found a perfect outlet in drawing and illustration. At the age of 12, after seeing Disney’s "Fantasia," the awestruck Sendak decided to become an illustrator.

Sendak is best known for his book "Where the Wild Things Are" (1963). Over 10 million copies have been sold worldwide. In 2009, it was adapted into a critically acclaimed film directed by Spike Jonze.

Sendak’s work has often generated controversy, despite his celebrated career as an illustrator. Over the years, his children’s book, "In the Night Kitchen" (1970) has been censored in several states due to illustrations deemed inappropriate. "Where the Wild Things Are" has been condemned by conservatives who claim the book involves witchcraft and supernatural elements. "I thought my career was over,” recalls Sendak. "The kids saved me. They loved the books because they are not afraid of life."

In addition to writing and illustrating, Sendak has created award-winning set designs for dance, opera and theater, including Mozart’s "The Magic Flute," Prokofiev’s "Love for Three Oranges" and Tchaikovsky’s ballet "The Nutcracker." In the 1970’s, he donated nearly 10,000 works of art, photographs, manuscripts and books to the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia.

For decades, Sendak hid his sexuality from the public, fearing it would ruin his career. "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew." In a 2008 interview with The New York Times, Sendak opened up about his private life and revealed his 50-year relationship with Eugene Glynn, who passed away in 2007.

In 2009, filmmakers Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze teamed up to produce "Tell Them What You Want," a documentary about the life of Maurice Sendak.

Alice Walker, Author and Feminist

b. February 9, 1944

“The truest and most enduring impulse I have is simply to write.”

Alice Walker is an award-winning writer, activist and self-proclaimed “Womanist”—a term she coined in her book “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” (1974) to describe black feminists. The voices she brings to life in her novels, short stories and poems helped educate and inspire readers.

Walker was raised in Eatonton, Georgia, during segregation. She was the youngest of eight children born to poor sharecroppers.

Walker received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965. She moved back to the South to pursue civil rights work and met Mel Leventhal. Walker and Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer, were the first interracial couple to be legally married in Mississippi. Walker had her only child during the marriage. The couple divorced in 1976.

Walker began teaching at Wellesley College in 1972. Her course, dedicated to the study of African-American women writers, was the first of its kind.

Her most famous novel, “The Color Purple” (1983), won a National Book Award and made Walker the first African-American woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1985, the novel was made into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover. The film earned 11 Oscar nominations. In 2005, “The Color Purple” was adapted as a Broadway musical, with Winfrey as the lead financial backer.

Walker’s awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Grant, an American Book Award, a Lillian Smith Award and an O’Henry Award. She was inducted into the Georgia Writer’s Hall of Fame and the California Hall of Fame. In 1997, Walker was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.

Bibliography

• “The Color Purple (1985).” The Internet Movie Database. June 18, 2008
• Danielle, Chris. Living By Grace: The Biographical Website About Author Alice Walker. April 1999
• Whitted, Qiana. “Alice Walker (b. 1944).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. May 12, 2008

Selected Works

• By the Light of My Father's Smile: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
• The Color Purple
• In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
• Meridian
• Once
• Possessing the Secret of Joy: A Novel
• Revolutionary Petunias (Poems)
• The Third Life of Grange Copeland
• Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women
• The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart
• We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness

Related articles

• CBC Foundation to Honor Alice Walker and Robert Townsend (prnewswire.com)
• Ann Weisgarber on the Black Pioneer Experience [reading preview] (austinist.com)
• Black Feminism, Tyler Perry Style (3quarksdaily.com)
• Read Something Feminist and Censored for Banned Books Week (womensrights.change.org)

Maurice Sendak, Author/Illustrator

b. June 10, 1928

"Inside all of us is a Wild Thing."

Hailed as the Picasso of children’s literature, Maurice Sendak has captured the imagination of readers young and old for more than 40 years. A prolific author and illustrator, he has published over 100 works of children's fiction.

Sendak has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Caldecott Medal, the National Book Award and the National Medal of Arts. PBS describes him as “one of the most consistently inventive and challenging voices in children’s literature. His books and productions are among the best-loved, imaginative works of their time.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants, Sendak was plagued with illness in his early childhood. He spent most of his time indoors where he occupied himself with books. Having discovered his creative voice at a young age, Sendak found a perfect outlet in drawing and illustration. At the age of 12, after seeing Disney’s "Fantasia," the awestruck Sendak decided to become an illustrator.

Sendak is best known for his book "Where the Wild Things Are" (1963). Over 10 million copies have been sold worldwide. In 2009, it was adapted into a critically acclaimed film directed by Spike Jonze.

Sendak’s work has often generated controversy, despite his celebrated career as an illustrator. Over the years, his children’s book, "In the Night Kitchen" (1970) has been censored in several states due to illustrations deemed inappropriate. "Where the Wild Things Are" has been condemned by conservatives who claim the book involves witchcraft and supernatural elements. "I thought my career was over,” recalls Sendak. "The kids saved me. They loved the books because they are not afraid of life."

In addition to writing and illustrating, Sendak has created award-winning set designs for dance, opera and theater, including Mozart’s "The Magic Flute," Prokofiev’s "Love for Three Oranges" and Tchaikovsky’s ballet "The Nutcracker." In the 1970’s, he donated nearly 10,000 works of art, photographs, manuscripts and books to the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia.

For decades, Sendak hid his sexuality from the public, fearing it would ruin his career. "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew." In a 2008 interview with The New York Times, Sendak opened up about his private life and revealed his 50-year relationship with Eugene Glynn, who passed away in 2007.

In 2009, filmmakers Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze teamed up to produce "Tell Them What You Want," a documentary about the life of Maurice Sendak.

Gore Vidal, Novelist

b. October 3, 1925

We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.

Eugene Luther Gore Vidal's career as a novelist, essayist, screenwriter, critic and political activist spans six decades. Boldly challenging the status quo, Vidal has weathered censorship and criticism for his progressive writing and politics.

His childhood was marked by access and privilege. Vidal attended Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the country's most prestigious preparatory high schools. His family's political connections played a major role in shaping Vidal's life work. Vidal's maternal grandfather served as a Democratic senator from Oklahoma, while his father worked in the FDR administration as the Director of the Bureau of Air Commerce. Vidal has familial ties to the Kennedy family and is a distant cousin of Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.

After graduating from Exeter, Vidal joined the U.S. Army Reserve. He served in the Army Transportation Corps in Alaska, where he wrote much of his first novel, "Williwaw" (1946).

The release of Vidal's third novel, "The City and the Pillar," met scathing criticism for the book's homosexual themes. Major media publications, including The New York Times, refused to review his subsequent books. Vidal's sales declined.

Financially strained by the censorship of his work, Vidal began to dabble in alternate writing media that proved more lucrative. These pursuits culminated in Vidal's success as a distinguished playwright and screenwriter.

In 1957, Vidal's first political play, "Visit to a Small Planet," premiered in New York. A satire on post-World War II fear of communism, the play received Broadway acclaim and became a film in 1960.

Vidal also excelled as an essayist and historian who often stirred controversy with his progressive political views. His social and political commentary spans four decades and includes over 20 pieces. In 1993, Vidal received the National Book Award for his collection of essays entitled "United States: Essays 1952-1992."

Since the inception of his writing career, Vidal has published over 30 novels of various genres. His successful series of historical novels includes "Washington D.C." (1967), "Lincoln" (1984) and "The Golden Age" (2000). Vidal explores feminism and transsexuality in his satirical novel "Myra Breckinridge" (1968).

Bibliography

• Kaplan, Fred. Gore Vidal: A Biography. Anchor. 2000
• Link, Matthew. “By the ‘Blog’s Early Light.’” Newsweek. April 20, 2007. July 3, 2007
• Parini, Jay. “Gore Vidal.” PBS: American Masters. July 3, 2007

Selected Works

• Williwaw: A Novel (1946)
• In a Yellow Wood (1947)
• The City and the Pillar: A Novel (1948)
• Season of Comfort (1949)
• A Search for the King (1950)
• Dark Green, Bright Red (1950)
• The Judgement of Paris(1952)
• Messiah (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) 1954)
• A Thirsty Evil: Seven Short Stories (1956)
• Visit to a Small Planet. (1957)
• The Best Man. (1960)
• Julian: A Novel (1964)
• Myra Breckinridge/Myron (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)(1968)
• Two Sisters (1970)
• An Evening with Richard Nixon (1972)
• Burr: A Novel(1973)
• 1876: A Novel (1976)
• Matters of Fact and of Fiction (Essays 1973-1976) (1977)
• Kalki (1978)
• Conversations with Gore Vidal (Literary Conversations Series) (1980)
• Creation: A Novel (1981)
• Pink Triangle and Yellow Star and Other Essays (1982)
• Lincoln: A Novel (Narratives of Empire) (1984)
• Empire: A Novel (1987)
• Hollywood (1989)
• View From the Diners Club (1991)
• Live from Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal (1992)
• United States (1993)
• Palimpsest: A Memoir (1995)
• Gore Vidal: Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings (1999)
• The Smithsonian Institution: A Novel (1999)
• The American Presidency (The Real Story Series) (1998)
• The Golden Age: A Novel (2000)

 

3 October: Gore Vidal, Writer

Author
b. October 3, 1925

We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.

Eugene Luther Gore Vidal's career as a novelist, essayist, screenwriter, critic and political activist spans six decades. Boldly challenging the status quo, Vidal has weathered censorship and criticism for his progressive writing and politics.

His childhood was marked by access and privilege. Vidal attended Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the country's most prestigious preparatory high schools. His family's political connections played a major role in shaping Vidal's life work. Vidal's maternal grandfather served as a Democratic senator from Oklahoma, while his father worked in the FDR administration as the Director of the Bureau of Air Commerce. Vidal has familial ties to the Kennedy family and is a distant cousin of Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.

After graduating from Exeter, Vidal joined the U.S. Army Reserve. He served in the Army Transportation Corps in Alaska, where he wrote much of his first novel, "Williwaw" (1946).

The release of Vidal's third novel, "The City and the Pillar," met scathing criticism for the book's homosexual themes. Major media publications, including The New York Times, refused to review his subsequent books. Vidal's sales declined.

Financially strained by the censorship of his work, Vidal began to dabble in alternate writing media that proved more lucrative. These pursuits culminated in Vidal's success as a distinguished playwright and screenwriter.

In 1957, Vidal's first political play, "Visit to a Small Planet," premiered in New York. A satire on post-World War II fear of communism, the play received Broadway acclaim and became a film in 1960.

Vidal also excelled as an essayist and historian who often stirred controversy with his progressive political views. His social and political commentary spans four decades and includes over 20 pieces. In 1993, Vidal received the National Book Award for his collection of essays entitled "United States: Essays 1952-1992."

Since the inception of his writing career, Vidal has published over 30 novels of various genres. His successful series of historical novels includes "Washington D.C." (1967), "Lincoln" (1984) and "The Golden Age" (2000). Vidal explores feminism and transsexuality in his satirical novel "Myra Breckinridge" (1968).

Bibliography
Kaplan, Fred. Gore Vidal: A Biography. Anchor. 2000
Link, Matthew. “By the ‘Blog’s Early Light.’” Newsweek. April 20, 2007. July 3, 2007
Parini, Jay. “Gore Vidal.” PBS: American Masters. July 3, 2007
Selected Works
Williwaw: A Novel (1946)
In a Yellow Wood (1947)
The City and the Pillar: A Novel (1948)
Season of Comfort (1949)
A Search for the King (1950)
Dark Green, Bright Red (1950)
The Judgement of Paris(1952)
Messiah (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) 1954)
A Thirsty Evil: Seven Short Stories (1956)
Visit to a Small Planet. (1957)
The Best Man. (1960)
Julian: A Novel (1964)
Myra Breckinridge/Myron (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)(1968)
Two Sisters (1970)
An Evening with Richard Nixon (1972)
Burr: A Novel(1973)
1876: A Novel (1976)
Matters of Fact and of Fiction (Essays 1973-1976) (1977)
Kalki (1978)
Conversations with Gore Vidal (Literary Conversations Series) (1980)
Creation: A Novel (1981)
Pink Triangle and Yellow Star and Other Essays (1982)
Lincoln: A Novel (Narratives of Empire) (1984)
Empire: A Novel (1987)
Hollywood (1989)
View From the Diners Club (1991)
Live from Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal (1992)
United States (1993)
Palimpsest: A Memoir (1995)
Gore Vidal: Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings (1999)
The Smithsonian Institution: A Novel (1999)
The American Presidency (The Real Story Series) (1998)
The Golden Age: A Novel (2000)