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Children's Book Writer and Illustrator Maurice Sendak.

Children's book writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak. He's been at it for over 40 years. His books are classics: "Where the Wild Things Are," "In the Night Kitchen," and others. They are "unsentimental fantasizes" (LA Times Magazine), challenging the belief that children should be protected from their fears and anxieties. In all, Sendak has illustrated 80 children's books (19 of which he wrote). He's also designed over 10 opera sets, including one for "The Nutcracker." Sendak has a new book, about a pack of homeless kids, "We are all in The Dumps with Jack and Guy." (HarperCollins Publishers).

22:43
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Other segments from the episode on September 22, 1993

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, September 22, 1993: Interview with Maurice Sendak; Interview with Andrew Gowers; Review of Edith Wharton and Marion Mainwaring's novel "The Buccaneers."
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15:45

Biographer Andrew Gowers Discusses Yasser Arafat.

Biographer Andrew Gowers. He's co-written (with Tony Walker) a new biography of Yasser Arafat, "Behind the Myth: Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Revolution." (Olive Branch Press). The book explores Arafat's nearly 40 years as a Palestinian activist. Gowers and his co-author spent hundreds of hours interviewing PLO officials, including Arafat, as well as American, Arab and European officials. Gowers is a Features Editor of the Financial Times and was the paper's Middle East Editor. He comments frequently on the Middle East for British radio and TV.

Interview
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04:37

An Amiable Diversion.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Buccaneers," (Viking) the final novel by Edith Wharton. It was published as an unfinished novel after Wharton's death in 1937. Now it's been completed -- by scholar and novelist Marion Mainwaring -- and published again.

Review

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20:36

This Pig Wants To Party: Maurice Sendak's Latest

Bumble-ardy is a deeply imaginative tale about an orphaned pig who longs for a birthday party. Sendak, who is 83, wrote and illustrated the book while caring for his longtime partner, who died of cancer in 2007. "I did Bumble-ardy to save myself," Sendak says. "I did not want to die with him."

Interview
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34:37

Artist, Writer and Designer Maurice Sendak

His new book Brundibar is based on a Czech opera of the same name. It was set to music by Hans Krasa, who was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp Terezin and later killed in Auschwitz. The opera was performed 55 times by the children of Terezin. Sendak has also written and illustrated the classic children's books Where the Wild Things Are, In The Night Kitchen and Outside Over There. Time magazine has said, "For Sendak, visiting the land of the very young is not something that requires a visa.

Interview
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27:45

Maurice Sendak on the Darkness of Children's Stories

Sendak illustrated a version of a recently-discovered Grimm story, about a girl named Mili who loses her mother during a war. Sendak, best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, often incorporates difficult subjects like death and divorce into his children's books.

Interview

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