Maurice Bernard Sendak was born on 10 June 1928 in Brooklyn, New York to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents. He decided to become an illustrator after seeing Walt Disney’s film Fantasia when only 12 years of age. His illustrations were first published in 1947 in a textbook titled Atomics for the Millions and he spent much of the 1950s working as an artist illustrating children’s books for other authors, before beginning to write his own stories.

Sendak gained international acclaim after writing and illustrating Where the Wild ThingsAre, although the book's depictions of fanged monsters concerned parents when it was first released. Sendak's seeming attraction to the forbidden or nightmarish aspects of children's fantasy, have made him a subject of controversy throughout his career.

Sendak was an early member of the National Board of Advisors for the Children’s Television Workshop during the development stages of the television series SesameStreet. He also produced an animated television production based on his work entitled Really Rosie , featuring Carole King, which was broadcast in 1975 and, in 1979, he adapted his book Where the Wild Things Are for the stage. Additionally, he has designed sets for many operas and ballets, including The Nutcracker, The Magic Flute and Hansel &Gretel.

In the 1990s, Sendak approached playwright Tony Kushner to write a new English version of the Czech composer Hans Krasa’s children's opera Brundibar. A few years later, Kushner wrote the text for Sendak's illustrated book of the same name, which was published in 2003 and was named one of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Illustrated Books of that year.

He illustrated Else Holmelund Minarik’s Little Bear series of books, which were subsequently made into a successful television series and he created the children’s television programme, Seven Little Monsters.

Where the Wild Things Are won the 1964 Caldecott Medal and in 1970 he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's book illustration. In 2003 he shared the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, along with Christine Nostlinger, the first time it was awarded.

A live-action, feature-length film of Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is planned for 2008, to be directed by Spike Jonze.

An elementary school in North Hollywood, California is named in his honour.

Maurice's Illustrated Books