Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel (1936-2003), who drew on memories of his troubled childhood on Staten Island for a prize-winning play with a tongue-twisting title, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, w... Read more
Paul Zindel (1936-2003), who drew on memories of his troubled childhood on Staten Island for a prize-winning play with a tongue-twisting title, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, was born on May 15, 1936, in Tottenville, Staten Island. His father was a police officer who abandoned the family. Mr. Zindel's mother, a nurse who also worked as a shipyard laborer, hat-check attendant and dog breeder, took in dying patients as boarders. Mr. Zindel did not read much as a child and said he he wrote for people who did not like to read.