Shel Silverstein

Biography

Sheldon Allan Silverstein

• Born September 25, 1930 to Nathan and Helen Silverstein
• Grew up in Chicago Illinois
• 1948 Graduated from Roosevelt High School
• Studied at Chicago Academy of Fine Arts then Roosevelt University

Sheldon Allan Silverstein

• 1953 Dropped out of college and joined the U.S. Army, toured in Korea and Japan.
• When he returned from his service, he became senior cartoonist at Playboy magazine and traveled New Jersey, Chicago, Mexico, London, Paris, Spain, and Africa.

Silverstein with Susan Hastings and Shoshanna

Sheldon Allan Silverstein

• 1969 Married Susan Hastings who died 6 years later, leaving him a single father of their 5 year old daughter Shoshanna
• Shoshanna died at age 11 of cerebral aneurysm

Sheldon Allan Silverstein

• Never married again but had a son named Matt with Sarah Spencer
• Died of a heart attack in his home in Key West, Florida in May 1999 at 68 years old

Shel's early start

• Published in high school paper The Roosevelt Torch
• “When I was a kid, I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball. I couldn't dance. So I started to draw and to write. I was lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style”

Becoming an author

Becoming an author

• Made his first cartoons for adults in the 1950's during his military service for Pacific Stars and Stripes
• Wrote for magazines Look and Sports Illustrated
• 1957-1970's cartoonist and journalist for Playboy
• Began writing books of cartoons

Ursula nordstrum

• 1963 met Ursula Nordstrom (publisher and editor at Harper and Row) who convinced him to write material for children

Ursula nordstrum

• "I never planned to write or draw for kids. It was Tomi Ungerer, a friend of mine, who insisted - practically dragged me kicking and screaming into Ursula Nordstrom's office. And she convinced me that Tomi was right, and I, quite frankly, could do children's books”

Publications

Publications

• Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back - first collection of poems, 1963
• The Giving Tree - second book, took 4 years to get a publisher (too sad, or too torn between children or adults audience), 1964
• A Giraffe and a Half, 1964

Publications

• Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros? - Dedicated to the Marshalls, who raised Shoshanna after Susan's death, 1964
• Don't Bump the Glump - 1964
• Where the Sidewalk Ends - second collection of poems and drawings, 1974
• Different Dances
• The Missing Piece - 1976

Publications

• A Light in the Attic - Dedicated to Shoshanna, first book on New York Best Times Selling List, stayed on the list for 182 weeks, 1981
• The Missing Piece Meets the Big O - 1981
• Falling Up - Last book before he died, dedicated to son Matt, 1996

Publications post-death

• Runny Babbit - completed before his death and published in 2005
• Every Thing On It - 140 poems never seen before, published 2011

Achievements and Awards

Achievements and Awards

• Musician: Wrote “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash and “One’s on the Way” for Loretta Lynn, more than a dozen albums beginning with Hairy Jazz in 1959
• Playwright: Several plays including 1981 The Lady or the Tiger & The Devil and Billy Markham
• Grammy winner and Oscar nominee

Johnny Cash and Shel Silverstein

rEFERENCES

WHEN I AM GONE
When I am gone what will you do?
Who will write and draw for you?
Someone smarter - someone new?
Someone better - maybe YOU!