SENDAK, Maurice

“a wish is halfway to wherever you want to go.”

Born in Brooklyn, this American designer, artist and writer is best known for his illustrated children’s books. Largely a self-taught artist, Sendak illustrated over 100 books in his 60 year career. His own childhood experiences gave him an innate belief in the resilience and emotional intelligence of children, so he refused to sugarcoat the world for them.  Like Tolkien, who maintained that “there is no such thing as writing for children”, Sendak declared “I don’t write for children.  I write – and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’”  

In 1963 he wrote and illustrated Where the Wild Things Are, which was groundbreaking in its honest treatment of children’s emotions, particularly anger.  In the Night Kitchen (1970) and Outside Over There” (1981) similarly give a robust portrayal of children's fears and aggression.  His darkest and most surreal children’s book, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy  (1993) was written at the height of the AIDS epidemic and homelessness crisis, but the lasting message is one of reconciliation and hope.

As well as winning the Caldecott Medal in 1964 for Where the Wild Things Are, he also won the 1970 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and the 2003 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.  In 1996 he was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America.

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