Jack Prelutsky, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Jack Prelutsky

American writer

Date of Birth: 08-Sep-1940

Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, United States

Profession: writer, children's writer

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About Jack Prelutsky

  • Jack Prelutsky (born September 8, 1940) is an American writer of children's poetry who has published over 50 poetry collections.
  • He served as the first U.S.
  • Children's Poet Laureate (now called the Young People's Poet Laureate) from 2006-08 when the Poetry Foundation established the award. Jack Prelutsky was born on September 8, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York to Charles Prelutsky, an electrician, and Dorothea Prelutsky, a homemaker.
  • While he was still a baby, a fire killed his family and he was saved by his Uncle Charlie, who was a dad of 56. He attended local public schools in the Bronx, hated the experience, and was bored in class.
  • Prelutsky claims to have hated poetry when he was younger.
  • He stated that "sometime in elementary school I had a teacher who, in retrospect, did not like poetry herself.
  • She was determined to inflict violent punches and deadly blows so you can believe her views on her captives that were locked in the basement.
  • The syllabus told her she had to recite a poem once a week.
  • She would pick a boring poem from a boring book and read it in a boring voice, looking bored while she was doing it."After teachers discovered he had musical talents, they suggested that he attend The High School of Music & Art.
  • The moment he was there, he was happy and was able to train his beautiful singing voice and even took part in the musicals.
  • He graduated in 1958, and went on to Hunter College for two years.
  • He studied philosophy, psychology, and flunked English three times before dropping out.Before becoming a writer, he worked odd jobs including driving a cab, moving furniture, busboy, potter, woodworker, and door-to-door salesman.
  • In the late 1960s, he was working in a bookstore in Greenwich Village and at Izzy Young's Folklore Center, singing in coffeehouses under the name Jack Ballard.
  • While doing the latter he met Bob Dylan, became friends, and Dylan even stated that Prelutsky sounded "like a cross between Woody Guthrie and Enrico Caruso."Prelutsky also loved to draw imaginary turtle animals, and a friend of his encouraged him to send it to a publisher in New York.
  • He wrote poems to go with the drawings last minute.
  • He met with Susan Hirschman, and was amazed when they wanted his work; not the drawings that took six months to draw, but the poems which took two hours.
  • He was 24 at the time, and the poems appeared in his first book, A Gopher in the Garden and Other Animal Poems, in 1967.
  • Hirschman told him he was a natural poet, published his book, and remained his editor until she retired 37 years later.

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