Talanted illustrators recipents of the 2015 Sendak Fellowship

Image from the Sendak Fellowship LCC 2011

In 2010 the 2003 ALMA Laureate Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) initiated the Sendak Fellowship, a residency program exclusively for artists who tell stories with illustration. Yesterday Publishers Weekly presented the 2015 recipients:

Richard Egielski has previously received the 1987 Caldecott Medal for illustrating Arthur Yorinks’s Hey, Al, and has illustrated more than 50 children’s books.

Marc McChesney got his start as an assistant to printer Gary Lichtenstein, and has done work in fine-art painting, and through a friendship with Sendak himself was inspired to take up children’s illustration.

Doug Salati has an M.F.A. in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts, and his illustrations have received recognition from American Illustration, 3 x 3, and the Society of Illustrators. Little Tug and Where’s Walrus?

Creator Steven Savage has also had illustration work in various publications and teaches at the School of Visual Arts.

The fellowship consists in a four-week residency for illustrators that runs from July 6–31. The residency is designed to give artists the time and space to explore their craft outside the increasing constraints of the publishing world, but according to PW Maurice Sendak described in his own words that the goal of the fellowship was to: “create work that is not vapid, stupid, or sexy, but original. Work that excites and incites.”

The Fellowship was conducted on Sendak’s own property in Connecticut for its first three years, but has since moved to Scotch Hill Farm in Cambridge, N.Y. The fellowship affords artists the time and space needed to create children’s book illustrations. In addition, the illustrators receive a stipend.

More about the works of Maurice Sendak here.

Remembering Sendak at the Met

On Tuesday morning a memorial service for Maurice Sendak was held at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The legendary author and illustrator, and recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2003, passed away in May at the age of 83.

Reporter Kathleen Horan at the WNYC Radio: “People think of him as a beloved, kiddie book author,” said Derick Dreher, director of Philadelphia’s Rosenback Museum, which has 10,000 pieces of Sendak’s work in their collection. “He hated that. He didn’t want to be beloved, he didn’t want to be a kiddie, book author. He wanted to be an artist.”

Tony Kushner, who helped organize the event, said when Sendak worked he had the ability to transform whatever he was facing or feeling. “He made — out of suffering —, sublime works of art.” But it was the sheer fun of just being with Sendak that Kushner said he missed most.

A wicked sense of humor was one of the many layers of Sendak’s personality highlighted by the array of speakers. It was also on display when the lights dimmed for a slideshow of Sendak’s soulful illustrations.

“What I found was not someone rigid, but deep with a sense of humor, who was willing to switch from his Mozart music to whatever ‘20s jazz I was listening to,” Art Spiegelman said.
Link to Kathleen Horan’s article here.

Yesterday, the Guardian published an interview with Taylor Hough, the British editor responsible for publishing Where the Wild Things Are in the UK. She last saw last saw Sendak in December, in the US, where he showed her the pages from the latest book on which he had been working: My Brother’s Book, an illustrated poem inspired by his love for his late brother Jack, which is due to be published next February.

“He was his usual self,” she says. “Very grumpy! Maurice was always a fairly sparky character.”

“Taylor Hough accepted the Astrid Lindgren Memorial award, the biggest prize for children’s literature, on Sendak’s behalf in 2003, as Sendak couldn’t make the event in Stockholm in person (he was at the opening night of Brundibar, the children’s opera for which he designed set and costumes, in Chicago). Speaking to the audience in Stockholm, she told of their first meeting in Sendak’s basement flat on New York’s West 9th Street, when she was 29 and new in her job, looking for US talent to bring to the UK via Bodley Head.”
Link to David Barnett’s article here.

Maurice Sendak creates exhibition

Today, the New York City’s Jewish Museum opens a very special exhibition – An Artist Remembers: Hanukkah Lamps Selected by Maurice Sendak.

The museum invited artist and illustrator Maurice Sendak (and recipient of the 2003 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award) to choose a group of Hanukkah lamps from the collection. The exhibition features thirty-three Hanukkah lamps of varied eras and styles, along with two original drawings for Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories (1966) and In Grandpa’s House (1985), and audio excerpts of a conversation between Maurice Sendak and Jewish Museum curators. The lamps Sendak found most compelling and poignant are those that “go right to the heart,” whose “beauty is contained.”

Maurice Sendak, Final illustration for “Grandmother’s Tale,” in Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories (1966) by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Ink on paper, Maurice Sendak Collection, Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia.

For 83-year-old Sendak, choosing from among such a wealth of lamps was an emotional experience that brought up powerful memories, both joyful and haunting. Many of the pieces come from the vanished Eastern European world of his immigrant Jewish parents, so movingly evoked in his work and reflected in the two drawings on display. The sheer number of these lamps and their rich decoration – featuring Eastern European architectural motifs, elaborate floral ornamentation, and fantastic animals – stirred his deep sense of loss for the members of his family who perished in the Holocaust – a trauma he has attempted to work through in much of his art.

The exhibition will be available at New York City’s Jewish Museum until January 29, 2012.

Nöstlinger received the Corine Prize

Last week the 2003 ALMA recipient, Austrian author Christine Nöstlinger, was awarded the Corine International Book Award for her life’s work. The prize is awarded for outstanding works of fiction and poetry as well as for excellent non-fiction books, and is given for lifelong achievement in writing. The award was presented to the winners during a glamorous gala in Munich on November 17^th, and will be broadcast by 3sat on November 22^nd. It has received much attention in the media.

Christine Nöstlinger, who celebrated her 75th birthday on October 13th, is one of Austria’s most important authors of children’s fiction. Nöstlinger and Maurice Sendak were the first recipients of the ALMA, back in 2003.

Christine Nöstlinger receives the 2003 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria. Photo: Stefan Tell.

Tonight, another important Award Ceremony is coming up – the Swedish August Prize Gala. We´ll be back with the details later on…

More books for young people adapted to film?

In the wake of the Harry Potter movies, there seems to be an increase of getting books for young people to be adapted for screen these days, according to Swedish newspaper Metro. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games will premiere in March next year, in Sweden, along with The mortal ­instruments by Cassandra Clare.

More books for young people to be film is Beautiful creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohls , together with Maximum ride: Angel experiment by James Pattersson. Successful screen versions that we can recommend is, of course, this year’s ALMA recipient Shaun Tan’s Lost Thing, and Spike Jonze’s film adaption of 2003 ALMA recipient Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.  

“I’m totally crazy, I know that. I don’t say that to be a smartass…”

“I’m totally crazy, I know that. I don’t say that to be a smartass, but I know that that’s the very essence of what makes my work good. And I know my work is good. Not everybody likes it, that’s fine. I don’t do it for everybody. Or anybody. I do it because I can’t not do it.” (Maurice Sendak in Guardian interview)

Maurice Sendak at his home in Connecticut, USA. Photo: Tim Knox for the Guardian

2003 ALMA recipient Maurice Sendak have received much attention in press and media lately. Not only for the fact that his latest book Bumble-Ardy (HarperCollins 2011) – the first one he has written as well as illustrated in 30 years – have been published, but also for his honest and direct statements in interviews. In last week’s very personal Guardian interview he explains how the grotesqueness of his characters came from his childhood. Another very moving and memorable interview recently made by journalist Terry Gross for American National Radio, is highly recommendable and available here.

Maurice Sendak was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2003; “Maurice Sendak is the modern picture-book’s portal figure. He is unparalleled in developing the picture-book’s unique possibilities of narrating – to the joy of constant new picture-book illustrators. Furthermore, he is one of the most courageous researchers of the most secret recesses of childhood – to the delight of constant new readers.” (jury citation).

A Maurice Sendak mural on the move

In 1961, Larry and Nina Chertoff’s childhood room on Manhattan was decorated with a mural, by no other than Maurice Sendak (2003 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award). Picturing a parade of children and animals, it is the first and only mural Maurice Sendak has painted. The mural predates his groundbreaking picture book Where the wild things are with a couple of years.  

Now, 50 years after it was painted, the mural has been removed from the Chertoff’s apartment and transported to the Rosenbach Museum and Library, which houses the Sendak Gallery. It is currently being restored and will soon be shown to the public.

Friends of the work of Maurice Sendak, will surely recognize the little white dog leading the parade. It is Maurice Sendak’s own dog, Jennie, who appears in the books Kenny’s Window (1956) and What do you say, dear (1958). Jennie also plays the role of Max’s dog in Where the wild things are. Also in the parade, you’ll find Rosie from The sign on Rosie’s Door (1960) and the bear from The Little Bear Series.

In February and March, visitors to the Rosenbach are able to follow the conservation process in progress and meet the specialists working on the mural.

You can listen to Maurice Sendak talking with Larry and Nina Chertoff about the mural on radio program All things considered (National Public Radio).

President Obama lets the wild rumpus start!

At an easter function by the White House, President Obama read Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak aloud to children gathered.

Reading picture books aloud to a group of children is not so easily done. They are best shared sitting next to each other, so both the child and the reader can simultaneously enjoy the text and illustration. That said, President Obama gets an A for effort as he – with much amusement – reads the story. Just watch as he “stares without even blinking once”!

In this next video, President Obama says reading books given to him by his mother laid the foundation for his future success. And when asked which was his favorite book as a child, he answers: “My favorite book, which continues to be one of my favorite books:  Where the wild things are. I love that book, and my wife still thinks I’m Max.”

Maurice Sendak was the first winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2003 (together with Christine Nöstlinger). His instant classic Where the wild things are changed the picture book forever.

As the jury’s citation read:

Maurice Sendak is the modern picture-book’s portal figure. He is unparalleled in developing the picture-book’s unique possibilities of narrating – to the joy of constant new picture-book illustrators. Furthermore, he is one of the most courageous researchers of the most secret recesses of childhood – to the delight of constant new readers.

Kitty Crowther and announcement of nominated candidates

Yesterday at the Frankfurt Book Fair, this year’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Kitty Crowther presented her work in conversation with Andreas Platthaus from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Judith Drews from Illustratoren Organisation.

The attentive audience at a Children’s Forum filled to the last seat, listened as Kitty Crowther spoke about her work, from Va faire un tour (1995) to Annie du lac (2009).

Kitty Crowther revealed that previous Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award-winner Maurice Sendak‘s book Where the wild things are was a source of inspiration when she made Va faire un tour. She also spoke of her love of the Moomins by Tove Jansson and how Inuit art inspired her while making the book La visite de petit mort.

After her presentation, Chairman of the jury Larry Lempert revealed the nominated candidates for the 2011 Award. 175 candidates from 62 different countries are represented on the list. The list of candidates was passed out to the audience, in which several candidates were present!

Food for thought

The Village Voice has listed their 10 best food-themed children’s books. In company with The very hungry caterpillar and The little house on the Prairie, you’ll find Maurice Sendak’s surreal and controversial book In the night kitchen.

The link between children’s literature and food is undeniable – just think of Pippi Longstocking flipping pancakes and baking ginger cookies (prepared very conviniently directly on the floor), the picinic extravaganzas of the Famous Five (a cold tongue sandwiche suddenly seemed apealing!). Or the The Hatter’s mad Tea-party for that matter.

You can read the full Village Voice list here. Do you miss any books that should have made the list?