Colin Edward Thompson (born 18 October 1942) is an English-Australian writer and illustrator of children's books. He has had over 70 works published and also draws pictures for jigsaw puzzles. In 2004, Thompson was awarded the

Aurealis Award The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award. History The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...

in the children's long fiction category for his novel ''How to Live Forever''.

Early life and careers

Colin Edward Thompson was born on 18 October 1942 in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

, then in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and now in west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. His mother changed his surname to Thompson when she remarried in 1953. Thompson states that he only met his father once, when he was nineteen. Thompson attended boarding school in Yorkshire and later a grammar school in West London. Thompson studied art for two years at college in Ealing and Hammersmith, where he met his first wife. He worked as a silk-screen printer and a graphic designer for a while, before attending

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

and working on documentaries for the BBC. After a divorce, he married a second time and after living briefly in

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

in 1968, moved to the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

. He and his wife set up a business as ceramicists, continuing the profession after moving to

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

in 1975. Thompson has one daughter from his first marriage and two from his second. He moved to Australia in 1995 and gained Australian citizenship. In 1999 he married Anne, an Australian librarian who had arranged for him to visit a Sydney school.

Writing and illustration career

Thompson's career as a writer and illustrator began quite late in his life. He first took black-and-white illustrations to a publisher in 1990, assuming a story would be written by someone else to go with his images. He was, however, instructed to write the story himself and re-do his illustrations in colour. His first picture book was published in 1991. As of 2015, he has had over 70 books published. Many of them are books for children and are self-illustrated. He has also published a few series of novels for pre-teens and young adults. Thompson's detailed, whimsical, colourful illustrations are popular as jigsaw puzzles and cross stitch kits with many of his works featured in jigsaws by

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

and cross stitch kits by GeckoRouge.

Awards

Thompson's first literary recognition came in 1995 when ''Ruby'' was awarded the English 4–11 Picture Book Award by the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

. In 1999 ''Staircase Cat'' was shortlisted in the picture book category for the Children's Book of the Year Award by the

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 ...

. In the following years, Thompson had success in this category four more times, winning the award for best picture book in 2006 with ''The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley''. His titles that were finalists in other years are ''The Violin Man'', ''Dust'', and ''The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness'', in 2004, 2008, and 2009 respectively. In 2004, Thompson's novel ''How to Live Forever'' was awarded the

in the children's long fiction category. ''The Floods Family Files'' was a finalist in the best graphic novel category in 2008. Thompson was added to the

International Board on Books for Young People The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an international non-profit organization committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of the IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland. IBBY history In 1952, Jella Lepm ...

honour list in 2002 for his illustrations in ''Falling Angels''. ''Castles'' was awarded the

Hampshire Illustrated Book Award The Hampshire Book Awards are an annual series of literary awards given to works of children's literature. The awards are run by Hampshire County Council's School Library Service. There are three awards: Hampshire Book Award, Hampshire Illustrat ...

in 2007.

Publications

Children's stories

Picture books (self-illustrated) # ''Ethel the Chicken'' (1991) # ''A Giant Called Norman Mary'' (1991) # ''The Paper Bag Prince'' (1992) # ''Pictures of Home'' (1993) # ''Looking for Atlantis'' (1993) # ''Sid the Mosquito and Other Wild Stories'' (1993) # ''Ruby'' (1994) # ''Attila the Bluebottle and More Wild Stories'' (1995) # ''How to Live Forever'' (1996) # ''Venus the Caterpillar and Further Wild Stories'' (1996) # ''The Haunted Suitcase and Other Stories'' (1996) # ''The Tower to the Sun'' (1996) # ''Castle Twilight and Other Stories'' (1997) # ''The Paradise Garden'' (1998) # ''The Last Alchemist'' (1999) # ''Falling Angels'' (2001) # ''Violin Man'' (2003) # ''Castles'' (2006) # ''Sometimes Love is Under Your Foot'' (2008) # ''The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness'' (2008) # ''Wild Stories'' (2009) (contains previously published material) # ''Free to a Good Home'' (2009) # ''The Naughty Corner'' (2011) # ''Barry'' (2011) Picture books # ''Sailing Home'' (1996) (with illustrator Matt Ottley) # ''The Last Circus'' (1997) (with illustrator Kim Gamble) # ''The Staircase Cat'' (1998) (with illustrator Anna Pignataro) # ''The Puzzle Duck'' (1999) (with illustrator Emma Quay) # ''Unknown'' (2000) (with illustrator Anna Pignataro) # ''The Last Clown'' (2001) (with illustrator Penelope Gamble) # ''No Place Like Home'' (2001) (with illustrator Anna Pignataro) # ''One Big Happy Family'' (2002) (with illustrator Karen Carter) # ''Round and Round and Round and Round'' (2002) (with illustrator Penelope Gamble) # ''Gilbert'' (2003) (with illustrator Chris Mould) # ''The Great Montefiasco'' (2005) (with illustrator Ben Redlich) # ''The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley'' (2005) (with illustrator Amy Lissiat) # ''Gilbert Goes Outside'' (2005) (with illustrator Chris Mould) # ''Norman and Brenda'' (2006) (with illustrator Amy Lissiat) # ''Dust'' (2007) (with thirteen illustrators) # ''Fearless'' (2009) (with illustrator Sarah Davis) # ''The Bicycle'' (2011) (with fifteen illustrators) # ''Fearless in Love'' (2012) (with illustrator Sarah Davis) # ''Fearless: Sons and Daughter'' (2015) (with illustrator Sarah Davis) Children's poetry #''The Dog's Been Sick in the Honda'' (1999) (with illustrator Peter Viska) (revised in 2000 as ''FIsh Are So Stupid'' with illustrator Chris Mould) #''My Brother Drinks out of the Toilet'' (2000) (with illustrator Peter Viska) #''There's Something Really Nasty on the Bottom of My Shoe'' (2003) (with illustrator Peter Viska)

Young adult fiction

Novels # ''Castle Twilight'' (1997) # ''Future Eden'' (1999) # ''Pepper Dreams'' (2003) # ''How to Live Forever'' (2004) (based on Thompson's picture book of same title) # ''Future Eden 2: Space: the Final Effrontery'' (2005) # ''The Second Forever'' (2012) The Floods series # ''Neighbours'' (2005) # ''Playschool'' (2006) # ''Home and Away'' (2006) # ''Survivor'' (2007) # ''Prime Suspect'' (2007) # ''The Great Outdoors'' (2008) # ''Top Gear'' (2008) # ''Better Homes and Gardens'' (2009) # ''Who Wants to Be a Billionaire'' (2010) # ''Lost'' (2011) # ''Disasterchef'' (2012) # ''Bewitched'' (2013) # ''The Royal Family'' (2014) # ''The Floods Family Files'' (2007) # ''The Amazing Illustrated Floodsopedia'' (2012) The Dragons series # ''Camelot'' (2009) # ''Excalibur'' (2010) # ''Mordred'' (2011) Watch This Space series # ''Out to Launch'' (2015)

Fiction

# ''Laughing for Beginners'' (2002)

References

External links

Colin Thompson official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Colin English children's writers English science fiction writers 1942 births Living people People from Ealing Writers from London