Robert Donald Graham, better known as Bob Graham (born 20 October 1942), is an Australian author and illustrator of picture books, primarily for very young children.
[Erin Peters (April 2012)]
"Bob Graham"
''Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature'', 50(2), p. 9.
Graham won the 2002
Kate Greenaway Medal
The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...
from the
British librarians
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, recognising the year's best-illustrated children's book published in the UK, for the picture book ''Jethro Byrd, Fairy Child'' (
Walker Books
Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase.
In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...
), which he both wrote and illustrated. (He donated the £5000 cash prize to refugees.)
[ The story features a young girl who finds a tiny fairy family "in cement and weeds", contrary to her father's teaching.][ He also won a 2000 ]Smarties Prize
Smarties are colour-varied sugar-coated chocolate confectionery. They have been manufactured since 1937, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Company in the United Kingdom, and now by Nestlé.
Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of abo ...
, ages category 0–5 years, for '' Max''[ and the 2002 ]Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, Picture Book, for ''"Let's Get A Pup!" Said Kate''.[
For his contribution as a children's illustrator, Graham was Australia nominee for the biennial, international ]Hans Christian Andersen Medal
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...
in 2012.[
]
Biography
Graham was born in Sydney, Australia.[ He loved drawing and was greatly influenced by comics such as The Phantom and Mandrake.
He studied drawing and painting, went to the UK after graduation, returned to Sydney, and there began his career as an illustrator and designer. Between 1983 and 1995 he lived in ]Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
working as an illustrator for a publishing house, The Five Mile Press. He now lives in the UK and works on a monthly comic-strip for a French magazine, Les Belles Histoires as well as continuing to produce picture books.
In 1982 he illustrated the music and lyrics booklet for Australian Broadcasting Commission's ''Sing'' primary school music radio broadcast. A scene from ''Greetings from Sandy Beach'' was used as one in a series of Australia Post
Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...
stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of the annual Children's Book Council of Australia
The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit ...
awards.
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
reports from participating libraries that his most widely held work is ''How to Heal a Broken Wing'', a 36-page picture book about a city boy who rescues an injured bird; published in 2008 by both Walker and its US division Candlewick Press
Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo.
Sebastian Walker launched Walker Books from ...
. WorldCat libraries hold editions in Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
, French, Spanish, Catalan, and Chinese.
Awards
Overseas, Graham has won three annual book awards for picture books.
* '' Max'' won the 2000 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and ...
, ages 0–5 years["Nestlé Children's Book Prize"]
Booktrust. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
* '' "Let's Get A Pup!" Said Kate'' won the 2002 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, Picture Book[
]
* '' Jethro Byrd, Fairy Child'' won the 2002 Kate Greenaway Medal
The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...
[
;Runners-up, etc.
* ''Buffy – An Adventure Story'' was silver runner-up for the 1999 Smarties Prize, ages 0–5 years][
* ''Queenie the Bantam'' was highly commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal, 1997][
* '']Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
'', written by Dick King-Smith
Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011), was an English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. He is best known for ''The Sheep-Pig'' (1983). It was adapted as the movie ''Babe'' (1995) ...
, made the shortlist for the 2005 Blue Peter Book Award
The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme '' Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999. The Awards have been managed by reading charity, ...
, Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud
In Australia
;Awards
* 1986, ''First there was Frances'' won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Picture Books category
* 1988, ''Crusher is Coming'' won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Picture Books category
* 1991, ''Greetings from Sandy Beach'' won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Picture Books category
* 1993, ''Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten'' won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Picture Books category
* 1993, ''Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten'' was a joint winner of The Australian Psychological Society's biannual Children's Peace Literature Award
Children's Peace Literature Award is an Australian literary prize awarded every other year by the South Australian Psychologists for Peace, an interest group of the Australian Psychological Society.
The Children's Peace Literature Award was ina ...
Notes
References
External links
Bob Graham at Focus on Fiction
* (''Jethro Byrd, Fairy Child'')
Finding Aid for Bob Graham at the Lu Rees Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Bob
Australian children's writers
Australian children's book illustrators
Kate Greenaway Medal winners
Writers who illustrated their own writing
1942 births
Living people