David Simon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Simon
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Simon in 2004
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| Born | David Judah Simon February 9, 1960 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Education | Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School |
| Alma mater | University of Maryland, College Park (BA) |
| Subject | Crime fiction, true crime |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Notable works | The Wire Treme The Deuce |
| Spouse |
Kayle Tucker
(m. 1991; div. 1998)Laura Lippman
(m. 2006; div. 2024) |
| Children | 2 |
David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, and television writer and producer. He is famous for creating the popular TV show The Wire.
For twelve years, Simon worked as a journalist for the newspaper The Baltimore Sun. His experiences there inspired him to write books. His first book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991), was about the lives of police detectives. He later co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (1997) with Ed Burns.
These books were so successful that they were turned into television shows. Homicide became the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Corner became an HBO mini-series. Simon worked as a writer and producer on both shows. This launched his career in television.
Simon is the creator and main writer for several well-known HBO series. These include The Wire, Generation Kill, Treme, Show Me a Hero, The Deuce, The Plot Against America, and We Own This City. For his work, he received a MacArthur "Genius Grant" in 2010.
Contents
Early Life and School
David Simon was born in Washington, D.C. His father, Bernard Simon, was a journalist and public relations director. His mother was Dorothy Simon. Simon grew up in a Jewish family. He has a brother named Gary and had a sister, Linda, who passed away in 1990.
When Simon was in high school, his father was involved in a hostage situation in Washington, D.C., but was safely released.
Simon went to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland. He wrote for the school newspaper, The Tattler. Later, he attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was the editor of the college paper, The Diamondback. He graduated in 1983.
Career Journey
Working as a Journalist
After college, Simon became a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He covered the crime beat for most of his time there. Simon has said that he got into journalism because he was inspired by the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal.
He worked at the newspaper from 1982 to 1995. After a while, he felt that he wanted to do something different. He decided to take a year off to follow a police homicide unit and write a book about their experiences.
Writing His First Books
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Simon spent all of 1988 with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department. He watched them work on cases and learned about their daily lives. He even helped a detective make an arrest once when his partner's coat got stuck in a car door.
His time with the police led to his first book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991). The book was a success and won the 1992 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book. It was praised for being a realistic look at police work.
The Corner
In 1997, Simon co-wrote another book with Ed Burns called The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood. For this book, they spent a year in a West Baltimore neighborhood. They wanted to understand the challenges faced by the people living there.
The book was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. Simon's experiences writing these books changed how he saw the world and influenced his later work in television.
Creating Television Shows
After the success of his books, Simon moved into television. He wanted to tell powerful stories on screen that felt as real as his books.
Homicide: Life on the Street
Simon's first book was turned into the TV series Homicide: Life on the Street. The show ran from 1993 to 1999. Simon started as a writer on the show and later became a producer.
He and his friend David Mills won an award from the Writers Guild of America for an episode they wrote together. In 1995, Simon left his newspaper job to work on Homicide full-time.
The Wire
Simon's most famous work is the HBO series The Wire, which he created with Ed Burns. The show, which ran for five seasons (2002–2008), is set in Baltimore. It explores the city from many different points of view.
Each season focused on a different part of the city:
- Season 1: The police and street-level crime.
- Season 2: The city's port and working-class families.
- Season 3: City politics and leadership.
- Season 4: The public school system.
- Season 5: The news media.
Simon wanted the show to feel like a "novel for television." He hired other famous writers, like George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, to help write the episodes. The Wire is often called one of the greatest television shows of all time.
More HBO Projects
Simon continued to create popular shows for HBO.
- Generation Kill (2008): A mini-series about U.S. Marines during the first days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
- Treme (2010–2013): A series about musicians and residents of New Orleans rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Katrina.
- Show Me a Hero (2015): A mini-series about a young mayor dealing with a public housing debate in Yonkers, New York.
- The Deuce (2017–2019): A drama series set in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s.
- The Plot Against America (2020): A mini-series that imagines an alternate American history where Charles Lindbergh becomes president.
- We Own This City (2022): A mini-series about a real-life corruption case inside the Baltimore Police Department.
Personal Life
David Simon was married to Kayle Tucker from 1991 to 1998, and they have a son.
In 2006, he married the novelist Laura Lippman. They have a daughter, born in 2010. Simon and Lippman separated in 2020 and later divorced, but they continue to raise their daughter together.
Simon is known for speaking his mind about politics and journalism. He has described himself as a social democrat, which means he supports capitalism but believes it should be balanced with social programs that help everyone in a community.
See also
In Spanish: David Simon para niños
