New Shel Silverstein poetry collection on the way

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A collection of previously unpublished poems and illustrations by Shel Silverstein is due out from HarperCollins Children's Books in fall 2011, announced Publishers Weekly on March 18. The collection, as yet untitled, will be the second posthumously released collection of work by Silverstein, who died in 1999.

According to the announcement, the new collection will have the same format as the late author's previous poetry collections, which include Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up, with between 120 and 130 poems. Senior executive editor Antonia Market, who edited the author's first posthumously published book, 2005's Runny Babbit, is currently working with Silverstein's family in selecting poetry and artwork for the new collection.

In addition to Runny Babbit, HarperCollins released 12 previously unpublished poems by Silverstein in a 2004 30th-anniversary edition of Where the Sidewalk Ends, as well as another 12 in A Light in the Attic Special Edition, released in fall 2009.

American author Shel Silverstein was a leading cartoonist for Playboy Magazine before Ursula Nordstrom, an editor for Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) discovered his work and encouraged him to begin writing for children. According to Publishers Weekly, his children's books have sold more than 25 million hardcover copies in the US alone and have been translated into more than 30 languages.