Authors & Illustrators

Here are some of Picture Book Party's wonderful authors and illustrators…

Michael Rosen
Author of We're Going On A Bear Hunt


Michael Rosen is one of the most popular authors of stories and poems for children. His bestselling titles, published by Walker Books, include Little Rabbit Foo Foo, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, This Is Our House, Tiny Little Fly, Dear Mother Goose and its sequel Dear Fairy Godmother. Michael received the Eleanor Farjeon Award in 1997, and was the Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009. He is a distinguished critic and academic, co-directing an MA in Children’s Literature at Birkbeck College. Michael lives in London with his family.


Helen Oxenbury
Illustrator of We're Going On A Bear Hunt

Helen Oxenbury is among the most popular and critically acclaimed  illustrators of her time. Her numerous books for children include Smarties Book Prize-winning Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell; We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen; as well as her classic board books for babies. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal for Alice in Wonderland. Her most recent picture book was the critically acclaimed There's Going to Be a Baby, the first book-publishing collaboration between her and her husband John Burningham. Helen lives in London.


Mac Barnett
Author of Sam and Dave Dig a Hole and Extra Yarn

Mac Barnett is the author of several picture books, including the hugely successful Guess Again, illustrated by Adam Rex. He also penned the Brixton Brothers series of mysteries; the first Brixton Brothers book, The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, was nominated for the 2010 Edgar Award for best Juvenile. He is the founder of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a convenience store for time travellers. He lives in Berkeley, California, USA. Visit his website at www.macbarnett.com. 


  
Jon Klassen
Author and illustrator of This Is Not My Hat. Illustrator of Sam and Dave Dig a Hole and Extra Yarn

Jon Klassen is the writer and illustrator of the bestselling and award-winning picture books I Want My Hat Back (9781406338539) and This Is Not My Hat (9781406343939). He is also the creator of illustrations for the popular series The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, and served as an illustrator on the animated feature film Coraline. Originally from Niagara Falls, Canada, he lives in Los Angeles, USA. Visit his website at www.burstofbeaden.com.   



Mary Murphy
Author and illustrator of Say Hello Like This 

Mary Murphy is the author-illustrator of Walker picture books How Kind!, I Kissed the Baby, Utterly Lovely One and novelty title, A Kiss Like This. She has also created many Walker Baby board books including Mouse Is Small and companion titles, Quick Duck and Slow Snail – described by the Irish Independent as "beautifully designed board books, with colourful artwork and simple, easy-to-follow stories". Mary lives in Galway, Ireland.


Eric Carle
Author and illustrator of What's Your Favourite Animal?

Eric Carle is the renowned children's book author and illustrator, most famous for his picture book  The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which has been translated into over 30 languages worldwide. Since The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books including Brown Bear, Brown Bear and What Do You See? and more than 71 million copies of his books have sold around the world. He is also the founder of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a non-profit organization set up to inspire a love of art and reading through picture books, to which all of the royalties from this book will go.  

 
Salvatore Rubbino
Author and illustrator of A Walk In Paris

Salvatore Rubbino is a rising talent in the world of illustration. His first book for children, A Walk in New York, was shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards, his second, A Walk in London, won an SLA Information Book Award, and his third, Just Ducks! (written by Nicola Davies), was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Salvatore teaches on the MA Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art and at Southampton Solent University. He lives in London.
  


Russell Hoban
Author of How Tom Beat Captain Najork,  A Near Thing For Captain Najork and The Rain Door

Russell Hoban is the author of many famous novels, including Turtle Diary and Riddley Walker, which won the John W. Campbell Award for science fiction. He also wrote over 50 children’s books, including such classics as The Mouse and His Child, The Sea-Thing Child and, most recently, Rosie’s Magic Horse. Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he moved in 1969 to London, where he lived until his death in 2011.


Quentin Blake
Illustrator of How Tom Beat Captain Najork,  A Near Thing For Captain Najork and The Rain Door

Quentin Blake is one of the world’s foremost illustrators, particularly renowned for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Michael Rosen, Joan Aiken and Roald Dahl. His books have won numerous awards, including the Whitbread Prize, the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration. In 1999 he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate, in 2005 was created a CBE and in 2013 received a knighthood for his services to illustration. He lives in London.
 

John Burningham
Author and illustrator of The Way To The Zoo

John Burningham is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest picture book artists. With over 35 books to his name, he has twice been awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal, for Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers and Mr Gumpy’s Outing. Among his other celebrated books is Granpa, for which he was awarded the Kurt Maschler Award, and which was later made into a successful feature film. He lives in London.
  

 Dallas Clayton
Author and illustrator of A Is For Awesome

Dallas Clayton is the author and illustrator of the critically acclaimed Awesome Book series, as well as the poetry collection Make Magic! Do Good! Dallas lives in California, USA. Visit his website at www.dallasclayton.com


Steve Light
Author and illustrator of Have You Seen My Dragon?

Steve Light is the author-illustrator of many books for children, including The Christmas Giant and Zephyr Takes Flight. He lives in New York City. Visit his website at www.stevelightart.com
  




Petr Horacek
Author and illustrator of The Mouse Who Ate The Moon

Petr Horacek’s bold and imaginative illustrations continue to captivate children and critics. His stories, often about loyalty and belonging, are told with an instinctive warmth and humour and are beautifully brought to life through his evocative use of colour and texture. He has won many awards around the world for classics such as Suzy Goose and A New House for Mouse and was shortlisted for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2012. He lives in Worcester.
  

 Timothy Basil Ering
 Author and illustrator of The Almost Fearless Hamilton Squidlegger

Timothy Basil Ering is the illustrator of the multiple-award-winning The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo and Snook Alone by Marilyn Nelson, as well as the acclaimed author-illustrator of The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone and Necks Out for Adventure! He lives in the USA in Kingston, Massachusetts, with his wife and sons.




Mo Willems
Author and illustrator of The Pigeon Needs A Bath and Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

Mo Willems is a three-time Caldecott Honor winner for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity. His celebrated Elephant & Piggie early-reader series has been awarded the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal on two occasions as well as three Honors. Other favourites include Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs and That Is Not a Good Idea. Before he turned to children's books, Mo was a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he won six Emmy Awards. Mo lives with his family in Paris, France.


Helene Boudreau 
Author of I Dare You Not To Yawn

Hélène Boudreau is a native of Canada and has had several popular books for children published there. She lives in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Visit her website at www.heleneboudreau.com or tweet @helenboudreau
  

Serge Bloch
Illustrator of I Dare You Not To Yawn

Serge Bloch is one of the most prolific and talented French illustrators working today. He has won the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, the Bologna Ragazzi award, and the Best Book Award in Taiwan. A native of France, Serge Bloch now divides his time between New York and Paris, where he is Artistic Director of the children's publishing house Bayard Jeunesse. Visit his website at www.sergebloch.net


Jenni Desmond
Author and illustrator of The Zebra Who Ran Too Fast

Jenni Desmond is an illustrator, artist and picture book author, working from a studio in a rattling railway arch in south London. She graduated with distinction from the Masters in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art (APU). Her first picture book won the Cambridgeshire 'Read it Again' Picture Book award 2013. Jenni lives in London.


Herve Tullet
Author and illustrator of Help! We Need A Title!

Hervé Tullet is the creator of over 50 children’s books. He was born in Normandy, and later studied Fine Arts and Decorative Arts before working as an Art Director. Hervé Tullet loves to provoke surprise when he meets children and the magic also works through his much-awaited books; he was awarded the Sorcières Prize 2010. Hervé lives in Paris.
  





Lucy Cousins
Author and illustrator of Peck Peck Peck

Lucy Cousins is the multi-award-winning creator of Maisy. Other titles include the Smarties Book Prize-winner Jazzy in the Jungle, Hooray for Fish! – which now appears in animation in Japan; the bestselling New York Times Top 10 Children's Book Yummy; and the critically acclaimed I'm the Best. Lucy Cousins' books have sold over 26 million copies worldwide and are available in 29 different languages. Lucy lives in Petersfield, Hampshire with her partner and four children.
 


Aaron Becker
Author and illustrator of Quest

Aaron Becker began drawing picture books at the age of eight. After many years of practice, he published his first wordless picture book, Journey. He is now on a quest to share his books with as many young readers as possible. “There is nothing more gratifying than seeing kids hold one of my books close to their heart,” he says. “My hope is that these stories might inspire us all to place a bit more faith in the power of wonder.” Aaron Becker lives in the USA in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife and daughter.

  
Birgitta Sif
Author and illustrator of Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance

Birgitta Sif was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, and lived in and around Scandanavia and America while growing up. She completed her BFA from Cornell University and worked as a graphic designer in New York  before deciding to enrol on Anglia Ruskin’s world-renowned Children’s Book Illustration MA course in Cambridge. Her debut picture book, Oliver, won the Icelandic Dimmalimm Prize and was endorsed by Amnesty. Birgitta lives with her family in Sweden.


Viviane Schwarz
Author and illustrator of Is There A Dog In This Book?

Viviane Schwarz is the author-illustrator of the highly acclaimed picture books There Are Cats in this Book and There Are No Cats in this Book, both of which were shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal (2009, 2012). She also illustrates picture books by her friend Alexis Deacon and their title A Place to Call Home was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny prize in 2011. Viviane was named one of the Booktrust's Best New Illustrators 2011. She lives in London.
  


 
Shirley Hughes
Author and illustrator of Daisy Saves the Day

Shirley Hughes has won many prestigious awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal twice. She began to write and design her own picture books when she had a young family and has now published more than two hundred titles. Shirley also wrote her first novel, Hero on a Bicycle in 2012.  She lives in London.




Nicola Davies
Author of The Promise

Nicola Davies is an award-winning author, whose many books for children include A First Book of Nature, Ice Bear, Big Blue Whale, Dolphin Baby, Bat Loves the Night and the Silver Street Farm series. She graduated in zoology, studied whales and bats and then worked for the BBC Natural History Unit. Nicola lives in Abergavenny, Wales. Visit Nicola as www.nicola-davies.com.   


 
Laura Carlin
Illustrator of The Promise

Laura Carlin is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and the winner of several awards, including the V&A Book Illustration Award. Her work has featured in Vogue, the Guardian and The New York Times, and she also illustrated The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, which was awarded an honourable mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Award fiction category. Laura lives in London. See Laura's work at lauracarlin.blogspot.co.uk.


Kate Hindley
Illustrator of Worst In Show

Kate Hindley lives and works in Worcestershire (home of the sauce). She studied illustration at Falmouth College of Art, and went on to work for two years as a children’s print designer at a studio in Northampton, whilst working freelance on children’s books and greetings cards. She has exhibited with her Girls Who Draw and Inkygoodness across the UK, and had a jolly good time painting up a totem pole for the Pictoplasma Character Walk exhibition 2011. Worst in Show is Kate's first picture book for Walker Books. 


Anthony Browne
Author and illustrator of Willy the Wimp and Willy's Stories

Anthony Browne is one of the most celebrated author–illustrators working today. Children’s Laureate from 2009 to 2011 and winner of multiple awards – including the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal and the much-coveted Hans Christian Andersen Award – Anthony is renowned for his unique style. His work is loved and admired all around the world. Anthony lives in Canterbury, Kent.
   



Inga Moore
Author and illustrator of Captain Cat

Inga Moore has illustrated numerous classics to much critical acclaim, including Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost. Published almost twenty years ago, her title Six Dinner Sid continues to grace bookshop shelves and won the Smarties Book Prize. Her most recent picture book, A House in the Woods, was descibed by Nicolette Jones as “the most beautiful picture book, and it makes you fall in love with Autumn". Inga lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
 


Taro Miura
Author and illustrator of The Tiny King and The Big Princess

Taro Miura is an award-winning author/illustrator and graphic designer. Born in Aichi, Japan, in 1968, Taro specialized in silkscreen printing at Osaka University of Arts. He was first selected to exhibit his work in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition fiction category in 2001, and has since exhibited his work in the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories several times. Taro works internationally and he is regularly published in Japan, France, Switzerland and Italy. This is his first book with Walker. Taro lives in Japan.


Katie May Green
Author and illustrator of Seen and Not Heard

Katie May Green is a graduate from the Cambridge School of Art MA in Children's Book Illustration. She has created artwork for UK and US publishers including HarperCollins, Penguin and Oxford University Press. Seen and Not Heard is Katie's first picture book. Katie lives in Somerset. Visit Katie's website at www.katiemaygreen.co.uk
 




Valentina Mendicino 
Author and illustrator of The Really Abominable Snowman

Valentina Mendicino studied illustration and animation at the European Institute of Design in Milan. Since 2005, she has been a freelance illustrator, working in Milan for several advertising agencies. She decided to leave Italy and move to England where she obtained an MA in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art. This experience changed her life and she discovered a whole new dimension in the art world, leading her to her first published book. She now works and lives in London. Visit her at http://chigaia.blogspot.co.uk
 


Simon James

Author and illustrator of Nurse Clementine 

Simon James, author and illustrator of Nurse Clementine, grew up in Bristol and Exeter and from an early age spent much of his time drawing and stapling stories into little books. Leon and Bob won the Smarties Book Prize Silver Award and was the New York Times' Best Illustrated Book of the Year, and Days Like This, a collection of small poems, was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Baby Brains was the overall winner of the Red House Children's Book Award in 2005, voted for by 25,000 children, and Simon followed up this success with two more Baby Brains titles, Baby Brains Superstar and  Baby Brains and RoboMum. Simon continues to be a much sought-after speaker in schools, and at festivals and conferences both in the UK and in the USA.

 

Bruce Ingman

Illustrator of Hooray For Bread

After teaching in several colleges of art and illustrating for magazines such as Vogue, Bruce's first book, When Martha's Away, was published in 1995 to huge critical acclaim. Not only was the book honoured with the National Art Library Award, but Bruce was presented with the prestigious Mother Goose Award as the most exciting British newcomer to children's picture books. Since then, he has written and illustrated several more children's books, including Bad News! I'm in Charge!, a sly look at every kid's wildest dream come true, and has illustrated four stunningly original picture books written by Allan Ahlberg: The Runaway Dinner, Previously and The Pencil. Bruce lives in London, UK.

 

Allan Ahlberg

Author of Hooray For Bread

Allan always dreamed of being a writer, but tried his hand at many other jobs before he achieved his ambition. He was a postman, grave-digger, plumber’s mate and teacher – it was teaching that gave him such sharp insights into the minds of children, and enabled him to write his perfectly observed poetry about primary school life. Allan has collaborated with many illustrators, including Bruce Ingman, his late wife Janet Ahlberg (née Hall) and his daughter Jessica Ahlberg. He has won numerous awards for his books including The Kurt Maschler Award in 1986, The Children’s Book Award in 1987, The Blue Peter Book Award 2001, and The Children’s Book Award: Books for Young Children award 2002.


Phyllis Root

Author of Sam Who Went to Sea

Phyllis Root grew up in Indiana and southern Illinois. She decided to be a writer in the fifth grade, but it wasn’t until she was thirty that she took a writing course with an influential teacher who gave her “the tools” she says she needed. “That’s when I figured out that you could learn to be a writer,” she says. When she’s not writing, Phyllis teaches at Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children programme. She lives with her two daughters and two cats in a 100-year-old house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and loves to read or spend time outdoors gardening, camping, sailing or travelling.

 

 

Sheena Dempsey

Author and illustrator of Bye-Bye Baby Brother!

Sheena Dempsey was born in Cork and studied fine art in Dublin before moving to London in 2009. She graduated from Kingston University with an MA in illustration in 2010. Bye-Bye Baby Brother! is her first picture book. She lives in London.





 

 

Chris Haughton 

Author and illustrator of Oh No, George!

Chris Haughton, authorillustrator of Oh No, George! is a freelance illustrator and designer from Dublin. His début picture book A Bit Lost won Gold in the Children’s Book category at the Association of Illustrators annual awards and was winner of the 2011 Eilis Dillon award and Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Award. In 2007 he was named as one of TIME magazine’s Design 100 list for the work he does for Fair Trade and People Tree. He has also won the 2011 Marion Vannett Ridgway Award, Dutch Picture Book of the Year, and was named one of the Booktrust's 10 Best New Illustrators. Oh No, George has been shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2013, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2013, and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012. He lives in London.

 

 Axel Scheffler

Illustrator of Sam Who Went to Sea

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Axel Scheffler won his first drawing prize at the age of eight – his prize was a cuddly lilac cow. In 1982, he came to England and studied at the Bath Academy of Art. Axel Scheffler is an illustrator of worldwide acclaim, most well-known for his picture book partnership with Julia Donaldson. He illustrated The Gruffalo, which won the Smarties Gold Award for Picture Books in 1999 and was the Best Book to Read Aloud at the first Blue Peter Awards in November 2000. He also illustrated The Gruffalo's Child, which was the WHSmith Children's Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2005. Axel now lives in London. 

William Bee

Author and illustrator of And the Cars Go... 

William Bee was born in London, but now lives in the English countryside. As well as writing children's books, he races a vintage sports car, is an international skier, and when at home tends his lawns and meadow. William Bee loves Saturdays, the colour green, tabby cats, the Queen, Rolls Royces, fruit scones, David Niven, staying at home...

Polly Dunbar

Author and illustrator of Arthur's Dream Boat

Polly Dunbar studied illustration at Brighton Art School and now lives and works in London. Author and illustrator of Penguin, Dog Blue and Flyaway Katie. Polly is the daughter of the distinguished author Joyce Dunbar who she collaborated with on the picture book Shoe Baby. She is also the illustrator of My Dad's a Birdman, written by David Almond, and Here's a Little Poem, an anthology of poems for very young children.



Bob Graham

Author and illustrator of A Bus Called Heaven 

Australia’s leading picture-book-maker and winner of the Smarties Prize Gold Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal. Since Bob Graham likes his stories to be quiet and focused on small, seemingly insignificant events of family life, imagine his surprise when the inspiration for MAX, the award-winning story of a superhero boy and his family, flew onto his desk. Bob Graham returns full force to the realm of animals with TALES FROM THE WATERHOLE, a series of five whimsical stories about a mischievous gang that love to mess around down by a waterhole on the African plains. He continues to create stories for children, ordinary and extraordinary, around the world.


Fiona Ross

Author and illustrator of Ballet Cat 

Fiona Ross, author and illustrator of the book Chilly Milly Moo, returns with her brand new book Ballet Cat, about a special cat Arthur and the Crazy Cat Crew. She studied illustration at Harrow College of Art, and then to the Royal College of Art to specialize in design for film and television. She describes the process of creating a book, as thoroughly enjoyable. She loves drawing, painting and mapping out ideas with her old drawing board, and drinks large cups of tea to fuel her inspiration.  




Charlotte Voake

Author and illustrator of Ginger and the Mystery Visitor

Born and raised in Wales, Charlotte says that book illustration is “the only thing I ever wanted to do”. Among Charlotte's most acclaimed picture books are Ginger, and its prequel, Ginger Finds a Home. Charlotte was personally selected by the nephew of the esteemed children’s book writer Eleanor Farjeon to illustrate the delightful classic, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep. More recently, Charlotte has written and illustrated Tweedle Dee Dee; Hello Twins, winner of the British Book Design and Production Award; and Pizza Kittens, a dinnertime comedy of errors that she says stems from personal experience.

Atinuke

Author of Splash! Anna Hibiscus 

Atinuke was born in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria. At an early age she was told that to be An Author was impossible – and she believed it. After leaving a sterile academic environment behind, she became an Adventurer – another impossibility, she was told –, and travelled in England, France, Morocco, Germany and Spain. She was telling stories for a living, until one winter in Wales where “I found myself in the circumstances in which I write best (alone and bored and empty) and I wrote about what I was missing… I wrote Anna Hibiscus.” 

Lauren Tobia

Illustrator of Splash! Anna Hibiscus 

Lauren Tobia was born in Bristol. She was working as an intensive care nurse in Bristol for many years, until her children were all grown up and she decided to follow her dream. She went to the University of West England where she studied illustration. The illustrator lives in a tiny house in south Bristol with her husband and their two unruly Jack Russell rescue dogs. She draws all the time and never goes anywhere without her sketchbook.