Kurt Vonnegut facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut in 1972
Born	Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-11-11)November 11, 1922 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died	April 11, 2007(2007-04-11) (aged 84) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Education	Cornell University Carnegie Mellon University University of Tennessee University of Chicago (MA)
Genre	Satire gallows humor science fiction
Literary movement	Postmodernism
Years active	1951–2007
Spouse	Jane Marie Cox ​ ​ (m. 1945; div. 1971)​ Jill Krementz ​ (m. 1979)​
Children	3 biological, including Mark and Edith 4 adopted, including Steve Adams
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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (born November 11, 1922 – died April 11, 2007) was a famous American writer. He wrote many books that influenced other writers. His stories often mixed satire (making fun of things to show a point), black comedy (dark humor), and science fiction.

Some of his most well-known books include Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). Vonnegut was known for his humanist beliefs. This means he believed in human values and dignity. He was even an honorary president of the American Humanist Association. Kurt Vonnegut also appeared briefly in the 1986 movie Back to School.

Life Story

Early Life and Family

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the youngest of three children. His parents were Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., and Edith Lieber. His family came to America from Germany in 1855. They were successful business people.

Both his father and his grandfather were architects. They worked in Indianapolis. His great-grandfather started the Vonnegut Hardware Company.

School and Army

Vonnegut finished Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in 1940. He then went to Cornell University. He studied Chemistry there. He also worked on the university newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun.

While at Cornell, Vonnegut joined the U.S. Army. The Army sent him to other universities to study Mechanical Engineering.

World War II Experience

Kurt Vonnegut's time as a soldier and a prisoner of war (POW) greatly affected his writing. He was a soldier with a low rank. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

He was held prisoner in the German city of Dresden. He could speak a little German, so he became a leader among the prisoners. But he was treated harshly by the guards and stopped being a leader. He was in Dresden during the terrible fire bombing in February 1945. This attack destroyed most of the city.

Vonnegut and his group of American prisoners survived the bombing. They were kept in an underground room for storing meat at a slaughterhouse. The Germans called this building Schlachthof Fünf, which means "Slaughterhouse Five." This experience gave him ideas for his famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five.

He said the city looked like the surface of the moon after the bombing. The Germans made the prisoners work. They had to gather bodies from basements and shelters. They buried these dead people in large holes.

Red Army troops freed Vonnegut in May 1945. The U.S. Army gave him a Purple Heart medal. He later joked that he got it for getting "frostbite."

Life After the War

After the war, Vonnegut studied anthropology at the University of Chicago. He also worked for a news agency there.

Later, he moved to Schenectady, New York. He worked in public relations for General Electric. His brother also worked there. Vonnegut lived in a small village called Alplaus. He was a volunteer firefighter for a few years. He wrote many of his short stories at a desk in his apartment there.

The University of Chicago later accepted his novel Cat's Cradle as his master's thesis. They said the story was like an anthropological study. He received his M.A. degree in 1971.

In the 1950s, Vonnegut worked briefly for Sports Illustrated magazine. During this time, Cat's Cradle became a very popular book. He also started writing Slaughterhouse-Five. This book is now considered one of the best American novels of the 20th century. In 1961, he published the famous short story Harrison Bergeron.

Vonnegut later moved to Barnstable, Massachusetts. He managed the first Saab car dealership in the U.S.

Personal Life

After World War II, Kurt Vonnegut married Jane Marie Cox. They had known each other since they were young. He wrote about their early relationship in some of his short stories. They separated in 1970 and later divorced in 1979.

From 1970, Vonnegut lived with the photographer Jill Krementz. She became his second wife after his divorce from Cox.

He raised seven children. Three were his own children from his first marriage. He adopted one daughter, Lily, with Jill Krementz. He also adopted three of his sister Alice's children after she passed away from cancer.

Vonnegut passed away on April 11, 2007. He fell at his home in Manhattan and injured his brain.

Awards and Nominations

Kurt Vonnegut received many awards and honors for his writing:

• 1953 International Fantasy Award nomination: Player Piano
• 1960 Writers Guild of America Award: "Auf Wiedersehen"
• 1960 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist: The Sirens of Titan
• 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist: Cat's Cradle
• 1970 Nebula Award nomination: Slaughterhouse-Five
• 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist: Slaughterhouse-Five
• 1971 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play: Happy Birthday Wanda June
• 1973 Seiun Award winner for foreign novel: The Sirens of Titan
• 1973 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation winner: Slaughterhouse-Five
• 1986 John W. Campbell Award second place: Galapagos
• 2009 Audie Award for Short Stories/Collections: Armageddon in Retrospect
• 2015 Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame from the Science Fiction Museum
• 2019 Prometheus Hall of Fame award for "Harrison Bergeron" from the Libertarian Futurist Society

Works

Here are some of Kurt Vonnegut's works. The date in parentheses is when the work was published:

Images for kids

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  Vonnegut as a teenager, from the Shortridge High School 1940 yearbook

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  Vonnegut in army uniform during World War II

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  Dresden in 1945. More than 90% of the city's center was destroyed.

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  Vonnegut with his wife Jane and children (from left to right): Mark, Edith and Nanette, in 1955

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  A large painting of Vonnegut on Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, blocks away from the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and the Rathskeller, which was designed by his family's architecture firm

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  Vonnegut Museum and Library, Indianapolis

See also

In Spanish: Kurt Vonnegut para niños