Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne is the internationally-renowned, award-winning author and illustrator of forty books, including the well-loved Willy the Wimp series. He was born in Sheffield in 1946 and grew up in Hipperholme in Yorkshire. He graduated from Leeds Art College in 1967 with a Graphic Arts degree and worked for a few years as a medical illustrator and then as a greeting cards illustrator for Gordon Fraser before becoming a full-time children’s illustrator. Anthony’s first book ‘Through the Magic Mirror’ was published in 1976. Since then he has won many, many awards including the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Kurt Maschler Award. In 2000 Anthony won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award for services to children’s literature, and in 2005 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education at Kingston University. He was announced as the sixth Children’s Laureate in June 2009. Anthony especially loves illustrating gorillas. He lives in Kent and has two grown-up children.