Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak
Sendak in 2009
Born	Maurice Bernard Sendak (1928-06-10)June 10, 1928 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	May 8, 2012(2012-05-08) (aged 83) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Artist illustrator writer
Alma mater	Art Students League of New York
Period	1947–2012
Genre	Children's literature picture books
Partner	Eugene David Glynn (1957–2007; Glynn's death)[1]
Parents	Philip Sendak Sadie Schindler
Relatives	Jack Sendak (brother)

Maurice Bernard Sendak (/ˈsɛndæk/; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Sendak illustrated many works by other authors, such as the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik. He achieved acclaim with Where the Wild Things Are (1963), the first of a trilogy followed by In the Night Kitchen (1970) and Outside Over There (1981).^[2] He designed sets for operas, notably Mozart's The Magic Flute.^[3]

In 1987, Sendak was the subject of an American Masters documentary, "Mon Cher Papa".^[4] In 1996, he received the National Medal of Arts.^[5] Per Margalit Fox, Sendak, "the most important children's book artist of the 20th century", "wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche."^[3]