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HOST:
Office of Government and Community Relations



SERIES:
The 34th Annual May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture


Descent into Limbo
Maurice Sendak
April 5, 2003
1:30 PM

LOCATION:
Kresge Auditorium

SPONSOR INFO:
The Arbuthnot Honor Lecture
This lecture is given each year by an author, artist, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children's literature. It was established in 1969 and is named for May Hill Arbuthnot, a distinguished writer, editor and children's literature scholar. Mrs. Arbuthnot was an associate professor of education at Western Reserve University. She is the author of the well-known text about children's literature Children and Books. The lectureship is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.

EVENT SPONSORS:
Office of Government and Community Relations
The Cambridge Public Library
Children's Literature New England, Inc.
The Association for Library Service to Children
American Library Association










   
Video Time Index
Descent into Limbo

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SPEAKER:
Maurice Sendak
Author and Illustrator


ABOUT THE LECTURE:
In this riveting and emotionally charged talk, Sendak provides a retrospective on the struggles of his early career as an artist, describing the "great giant ladies versus the suits" of the publishing establishment, discusses the symptoms of depression as they correlate to the creative process, and tells an amazing story of his search for Rosie. On the cusp of his 75th birthday, Sendak describes his life as one "obsessed with childhood," and concludes, "over the years everything in my creative life has gradually been strengthened and newly passioned".

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
(Text from the Lecture Program) Maurice Sendak was born in the United States in 1928 of parents who had emigrated from Jewish shtetls in Poland. Drawn at an early age to the bright face of popular culture, especially the Mickey Mouse cartoons, Sendak apprenticed on the streets of Brooklyn. From his windows he watched and sketched children at play, intrigued by the ways children imaginatively examine their humble place in a dangerous and mysterious world. Ten-year-old Rosie, a wild, imaginative child he watched and sketched from his window during the Second World War years, became his muse and the prototype of all his book characters.

While best known for his award-winning trilogy of picture books, Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1971) and Outside Over There (1982), Sendak had already caught the attention of canny professionals and booklovers with his illustrations for A Hole Is to Dig (1952) by Ruth Krauss; and with Little Bear (1957) by Else Holmelund Minarik.

In 1970 Maurice Sendak was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his body of work, the first American to be so honored. He received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1983, and in 1997 President Clinton presented Maurice Sendak with a National Medal for the Arts.

More on Maurice Sendak

NOTES ON THE VIDEO (Time Index):
This video was produced by the Office of Cable Television, City of Cambridge

The video length is 1:29:47 and begins with welcoming remarks from Ann Wolpert Director, MIT Libraries

6:20
Welcome from Michael Sullivan
Mayor of Cambridge

8:42
Remarks from Barbara A. Genco
President, Association for Library Service to Children

12:16
Introduction by Joanna Rudge Long
Chair 2003 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Committee

17:46
Maurice Sendak
"Descent into Limbo"

1:23:47
Appreciation
Gregory Maguire
Co-director
Children's Literature New England, Inc.

1:25:06
Concluding Remarks
Susan Flannery,
Director, Cambridge Public Library

 
 
Harper Collins
Maurice Sendak at HarperCollins.com
 

The information on this page was accurate as of the day the video was added to MIT World. This video was added to MIT World on 2003-05-01.

       

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