About William Steig
William Steig was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book Shrek!, which inspired the film series of the same name, as well as others that included Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Abel's Island, and Doctor De Soto. He was the U.S. nominee for the biennial and international Hans Christian Andersen Awards, as both a children's book illustrator in 1982 and a writer in 1988. After the release of Shrek 2 in 2004, Steig became the first sole-creator of an animated movie franchise that went on to generate over $1 billion from theatrical and ancillary markets after only one sequel. Steig's first marriage also made him a brother-in-law of Leo Rosten and an uncle of Mary Catherine Bateson. His first published work appeared in The New Yorker in 1930 as a series of cartoons. He excelled here as well, and his third book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), won the Caldecott Medal.
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