Grating The Nutmeg

  Artist and author Maurice Sendak was able to achieve significant and enduring success in art and children’s literature during his lifetime. But what secrets did he had to keep from his family, publishers, parents, librarians, and readers as a gay, Jewish man negotiating the field of children’s literature?   Sendak wrote and illustrated books that nurtured children and adults alike. Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are, in 1970 Sendak became the first American illustrator to receive the international Hans Christian Anderson Award, given in recognition of his entire body of work. Sendak’s work has been the subject of several extensive retrospective art shows at prestigious museums across the country. Sendak lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut with his partner Dr. Eugene Glynn for over 50 years.   In this episode, my guest is Dr. Golan Moskowitz, author of Wild Visionary, Maurice Sendak in Queer Jewish Context, published by Stanford University Press in 2021. Dr. Moskowitz is an Assist