Steig, William

Steig, William,

1907–2003, American cartoonist and children's book writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He began drawing cartoons for the The New Yorker in the 1930s, and ultimately produced over 1,600 spontaneous, exuberant line drawings for the magazine, including more than 100 covers. In his sixties, he became a successful children's book author, writing and illustrating Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969; Caldecott Medal), Abel's Island (1973), Doctor De Soto (1982), Brave Irene (1986), and Shrek! (1990), which became the basis for a computer-animated film series.

Steig, William

(1907– ) artist, cartoonist, writer; born in New York City. He studied in New York at City College (1923–25) and the National Academy of Design (1925–29). In 1930 he began to make wood sculptures and to work as a free-lance artist, notably for the New Yorker. Late in his life he began writing as well as illustrating children's books, many of them classics of the genre, such as Roland, The Minstrel Pig (1968), Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), and The Amazing Bone (1976).