William Steig

American cartoonist, children's illustrator and writer (1907–2003)

William Steig was an American cartoonist and illustrator. He was born in Brooklyn in 1907 to Jewish parents from Poland.

In the 1960s, Steig started writing children’s books. In 1984 he worked on a cartoon based on his book Doctor De Soto. This won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 1990, Steig wrote the children’s book Shrek! as a fairy tale parody which inspired the movie Shrek which won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Steig said he loved it. Steig died in 2003. Shrek 2 in 2004 was dedicated to him.