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Paul Zindel Jr. (May 15, 1936 – March 27, 2003) was an American playwright, young adult novelist, and educator.
Zindel wrote his first play in high school. Throughout his teen years, he wrote plays, though he trained as a chemist at Wagner College and spent six months working at Allied Chemical as a chemical writer after graduating. Zindel took a creative-writing course with the playwright Edward Albee while he was an undergraduate. Albee became his mentor and was an advocate for Zindel. He later quit and worked as a high-school Chemistry and Physics teacher at Tottenville High School on Staten Island for ten years. Zindel seemed to gravitate toward behavior that allowed him to observe the reactions of others in strange situations: Olen Soifer, visiting with his father Dave, who was the long-time lab technician at the high school, remembers seeing Zindel wearing black shoes with the front of one cut off, such that his white-socked toes could not be missed sticking out of the shoe.
Zindel wrote a total of 53 books, all but one of them aimed at children or teens. Many were set in his home town of Staten Island. They tended to be semi-autobiographical, focusing on teenage misfits with abusive or neglectful parents. Zindel himself grew up in a single-parent household; his mother worked at various occupations: hat-check girl, shipyard worker, dog breeder, hot-dog vendor, and finally, licensed practical nurse, often boarding terminally ill patients at their home.Pamphlet for They moved frequently, and his mother often engaged in "get-rich-quick" schemes that did not succeed. His father abandoned them early in his life. This upbringing was most closely depicted in Confessions of a Teenage Baboon.
Despite the often dark subject matter of his books, which deal with loneliness, loss, and the effects of abuse, they are also filled with humor. Many of his novels have zany titles, such as My Darling, My Hamburger, Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball! or Confessions of a Teenage Baboon. My Darling, My Hamburger specifically deals with teen sexuality, abuse within the home, teen pregnancy, and abortion.
The Pigman, first published in 1968, deals with love and finding friends in odd places. It is widely taught in American schools and made it onto the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990s; for example, Plano, Texas parents complained of offensive language and sexual themes. Database entry evidently for a complaint by Plano Parents Rights Council (no date). Zindel stated that "I ignore critics usually. I believe the perfect story is a dream."
Zindel received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2002, recognizing his cumulative "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". The jury cited five works said to be published 1968 to 1993: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; My Darling, My Hamburger; and the Pigman trilogy. The citation called The Pigman "one of the first authentic young adult novels" and the panel chair observed that "Paul Zindel knows and understands the reality young adults deal with day-to-day ... He has the ability to depict young adults in an honest and realistic way. The characters he developed nearly 40 years ago still speak to today's teens."
Beginning with Loch in 1994, Zindel wrote numerous speculative fiction novels for children or young adults, mainly in the horror genre.
Zindel also worked in Hollywood, writing the screenplays for, among other titles, Up the Sandbox, Mame and Runaway Train . He also studied acting with Tracey Roberts (actress).
A resident of Montague Township, New Jersey,Gavin, John A. "Workshops on words give clue to future", The Record, March 3, 2000. Accessed January 6, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Paul Zindel, a Pulitzer Prize winner whose novels were required reading for students, gave guidance on how to develop the plot of a mystery.... Zindel, who lives in Montague in Sussex County and teaches part time at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, told students some of the secrets of good writing and recommended books that could sharpen their skills." Zindel died in New York City from lung cancer in 2003, at the Jacob Perlow Hospice in Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. He is buried in Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island.
(‡) The YALSA cited five books when Zindel won the 2002 Edwards Award.
Personal life and death
Zindel was married to Bonnie Zindel from 1973, divorcing her in 1998. They had two children; novelist Lizabeth Zindel, and son David, a publisher.
Works
Plays
Novels
The Zone Unknown
P.C. Hawke Mysteries
The Wacky Facts Lunch Bunch
The Pigman Trilogy
Other novels
Short stories
Screenplays
See also
External links
Categories: Www.paulzindel.com Official Website, 1936 Births, 2003 Deaths, 20th-century American Dramatists And Playwrights, 20th-century American Novelists, 21st-century American Novelists, 20th-century American Educators, 20th-century American Chemists, American Children's Writers, Schoolteachers From New York, People From Montague Township, New Jersey, Margaret A. Edwards Award Winners, People From Tottenville, Staten Island, Pulitzer Prize For Drama Winners, University Of Southern California Faculty, Wagner College Alumni, Writers From New York City, American Writers Of Young Adult Literature, American Male Novelists, American Male Dramatists And Playwrights, 20th-century American Male Writers, 21st-century American Male Writers, Novelists From New Jersey, Novelists From New York, Scientists From New York, Port Richmond High School Alumni, Deaths From Lung Cancer In New York, Burials At Moravian Cemetery, Writers From Sussex County, New Jersey
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