Sheldon Allan Silverstein, or more popularly known as Shel Silverstein or Uncle Shelby, was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 25, in either 1930, or 1932. The one I've seen most often in 1930, so I'll go with that. The reason that no one really knows which year it was is because Shel Silverstein was very protective of his personal information.
His father was Nathan Silverstein, and his mother was Helen. He had a sister named Peggy Myers. He also had a daughter that died 2 months before her 12th birthday because of a brain aneurysm, and a son named Mathew.
In an interview with Publishers Weekly in 1975, he said "When I was a kid, I would much rather have been good at baseball or hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball. I couldn't dance. So I started to draw and write. I was lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, to be impressed by. I had developed my own style." Shel Silverstein had never even thought of being a children's author.
He went to High School at Roosevelt High, then went to the University of Illinois until expelled one year later. Next he went to Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He then went to Roosevelt University for three years until drafted for US Army in Korea and Japan.
Besides poems, he involved himself in doing several other things such as writing music, and drawing comics. Some of the first cartoons he drew were for the Pacific Stars and Stripes while in Japan and Korea during 1953-1955. He also wrote the music and lyrics for 'Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?' which came out June 15, 1971. He worked for 'Playboy' from 1956 to 1998 drawing comics and (my parents told me this, yay parent references!) that when 'Playboy' had a TV show, he preformed songs on it. Some more musically inclined this that he did were writing 'A Boy named Sue' for Johnny Cash and 'The Cover of the Rolling Stone' for Dr. Hook.
He died May 10, 1999 in Key West, Florida due to heart failure.
His father was Nathan Silverstein, and his mother was Helen. He had a sister named Peggy Myers. He also had a daughter that died 2 months before her 12th birthday because of a brain aneurysm, and a son named Mathew.
In an interview with Publishers Weekly in 1975, he said "When I was a kid, I would much rather have been good at baseball or hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball. I couldn't dance. So I started to draw and write. I was lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, to be impressed by. I had developed my own style." Shel Silverstein had never even thought of being a children's author.
He went to High School at Roosevelt High, then went to the University of Illinois until expelled one year later. Next he went to Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He then went to Roosevelt University for three years until drafted for US Army in Korea and Japan.
Besides poems, he involved himself in doing several other things such as writing music, and drawing comics. Some of the first cartoons he drew were for the Pacific Stars and Stripes while in Japan and Korea during 1953-1955. He also wrote the music and lyrics for 'Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?' which came out June 15, 1971. He worked for 'Playboy' from 1956 to 1998 drawing comics and (my parents told me this, yay parent references!) that when 'Playboy' had a TV show, he preformed songs on it. Some more musically inclined this that he did were writing 'A Boy named Sue' for Johnny Cash and 'The Cover of the Rolling Stone' for Dr. Hook.
He died May 10, 1999 in Key West, Florida due to heart failure.
