Debi Gliori (born 1959) is a Scottish writer and illustrator of children's books.

Life and career

Gliori was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and grew up there as an only child. She started writing children's books in 1976 and attended art school in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

from 1979 to 1984. She then received an Andrew Grant travelling scholarship award to go to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, and worked as a freelance from 1984. In 1989, independent children's book publisher

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 ...

signed her, and she acquired an agent three years later. Gliori is the creator of many children's books including the ''Mr Bear''

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

series. She wrote the

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

'' Pure Dead'' series for older children, with ''Pure Dead Magic'' being her first novel. Gliori lives in Haddington,

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

Awards

''Mr. Bear'' won the

Red House Children's Book Award The Federation of Children's Book Groups Children's Book Award is a set of annual literary prizes for children's books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar year. It recognises one "Overall" winner and one book in each of three cat ...

for picture books in 1997. ''Mr. Bear to the Rescue'' was shortlisted for the

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) ...

in 1997; ''Mr. Bear Babysits'', ''Mr. Bear's Picnic'' and ''Mr. Bear to the Rescue'' were all awarded a Gold award in the Petit Filous Best Toy Awards, and ''Mr. Bear Says Goodnight'' was chosen for the Booktrust's Bookstart project. ''Where, Oh Where, is Baby Bear?'' was shortlisted for the Sainsbury's Baby Book Award in 2001. ''Always and Forever'', written by Alan Durant and illustrated by Debi Gliori, was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2003. Her work has also been shortlisted for the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

Award (for ''Pure Dead Wicked'' in 2003), and for the

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Award (for ''Stormy Weather'' in 2010). On 6 November 2018 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letter at Strathclyde University.

Reception

''What's the Time, Mr Wolf?'' Reviewing the same work in ''

We Love This Book ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'', Caroline Downie writes, "Gliori's illustrations are a delight, full of detail and surprises", with "so many things on each page to discover, share, count and laugh at." On the Booktrust website, ''What's the Time Mr Wolf?'' is described as "a delightful story, inspired by traditional fairy tales as well as the familiar playground game, 'What's the Time Mr Wolf?'" The reviewer found the book to contain much "lively detail" and "beautiful illustrations" and suggested that it would make a perfect and soothing bedtime story. At ''SchoolZone'', schools librarian Joy Court found ''What's the Time Mr Wolf?'' to be "an enchantingly original story" and "a delight to read aloud". She writes that the book is "perfect for practising telling the time" and for the ritisheducational Key Stage 1. At ''Parents in Touch'', the reviewer writes that the book is humorous, "filled with much loved characters" and contains "catchy text" which is "a joy to read aloud". The reviewer adds that the illustrations are "packed with thoughtful detail" and an "utter delight".

Other reviews

Media coverage

* * * * * * The programme was broadcast at 6:30pm, UK time, on 7 November 2012. The piece runs from 24:33 onwards and was available online until 6:59pm on Thursday 8 November 2012. * The

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

piece is also available in this

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

language version.

The Tobermory cat

Two small cats known as The Distillery Cats appear on The Tobermory Distillery Sign. In 2012, the origin of the idea of Gliori's book, 'The Tobermory Cat' came under fierce online dispute. There have been a number of creative works using the name "Tobermory",For example, Tobermory is the name of a talking cat in the short story ''Tobermory'' by Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916), who wrote as

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultur ...

. The story may be found in ''The Chronicles of Clovis''. most notably an illustrated children's book, ''The Tobermory Cat'' by Debi Gliori and the earlier Facebook page and book entitled ''

Tobermory Cat ''Tobermory Cat'' is the name of a celebrity ginger cat used as an "evolving, interactive artwork" by Scottish artist Angus Stewart. Background The ''Distillery Cats'' originally lived at The Tobermory Distillery Tobermory, Mull, Tobermory on Isl ...

'' by the Isle of Mull artist Angus Stewart.

Selected works

Series

Pure Dead

:''Pure Dead Magic'' (2001) :''Pure Dead Wicked'' (2002) :''Pure Dead Brilliant'' (2003) :''Deep Trouble'' (2004) ''aka Pure Dead Trouble'' :''Deep Water'' (2005) ''aka Pure Dead Batty'' :''Deep Fear'' (2006) ''aka Pure Dead Frozen'' :''Pure Dead Magic'' / ''Pure Dead Wicked'' / ''Pure Dead Brilliant'' (omnibus) (2004)

Witch Baby

:''Witch Baby and Me'' (2008) :''Witch Baby and Me Go to School'' (2009) :''Witch Baby and Me After Dark'' (2009) :''Witch Baby and Me on Stage'' (2010)

Collections

:''Debi Gliori's Bedtime Stories'' (2002)

Picture books

:''New Big Sister'' (1991) :''New Big House'' (1992) :''My Little Brother'' (1992) :''Dulcie Dando, Soccer Star'' (1992) :''Lizzie and Her Friend'' (1993) :''Lizzie and Her Puppy'' (1993) :''A Lion at Bedtime'' (1993) :''Lizzie and Her Dolly'' (1993) :''Oliver's Alphabets'' (1993) :''Mr. Bear Babysits'' (1994) :''The Snowchild'' (1994) :''When I'm Big'' (1994) :''A Present for Big Pig'' (1994) :''Willie Bear and the Wish Fish'' (1995) :''Mr. Bear's Picnic'' (1995) :''The Snow Lambs'' (1995) :''Mr. Bear to the Rescue'' (1996) :''Lizzie and Her Kitty'' (1996) :''Princess and the Pirate King'' (1996) :''Mr. Bear Says Are You There, Baby Bear?'' (1997) :''Mr. Bear Says a Spoonful for You'' (1997) :''Mr. Bear Says Good Night'' (1997) :''Mr. Bear Says I Love You'' (1997) :''Mr. Bear Says Peek-A-Boo'' (1997) :''Mr. Bear Novelty Book'' (1997) :''Corragan Is Ordagan'' (1998) :''Hello, Baby Bear'' (1998) :''Mr. Bear Says Hello, Baby Bear'' (1998) :''Mr. Bear's New Baby'' (1998) :''Mr. Bear Says a Little Hush Please'' (1998) :''Mr. Bear Says Can I Have a Hug?'' (1998) :''Mr. Bear Says Let's Go Outside'' (1998) :''Mr. Bear Says Tickly Under There'' (1998) :''Give Him My Heart'' (1999) :''No Matter What'' (1999) :''Mr. Bear's Vacation'' (2000) :''Mr. Bear's Holiday'' (2000) :''Polar Bolero'' (2000) :''Flora's Blanket'' (2001) :''Where, Oh Where, Is Baby Bear?'' (2001) :''Tell Me What It's Like to Be Big'' (2001) :''Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep'' (2002) :''Can I Have a Hug?'' (2002) :''Tickly Under There'' (2002) :''Penguin Post'' (2002) :''Flora's Surprise'' (2003) :''Flora's Flowers'' (2003) :''The Big Mr Bear Storybook'' (2003) :''Where Did That Baby Come From?'' (2004) :''Woodland Tales: Hush Little Chick'' (2005) :''Woodland Tales: Little Fox's Picnic'' (2005) :''Little Owl's Swim'' (2005) :''Wake Up Little Rabbit'' (2005) :''Goodnight, Baby Bat!'' (2007) :''Little Bear and the Wish Fish'' (2008) :''The Trouble with Dragons'' (2008) :''Are You There, Baby Bear?'' (2009) :''Bear's Bedtime Lullaby'' (2009) :''Stormy Weather'' (2009) :''Mr. Bear's Birthday'' (2010) :''The Scariest Thing of All'' (2011) :''What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?'' (2012) :''The Tobermory Cat'' (2012) The lead paragraphs featuring the controversy may be viewed without a subscription. The programme was broadcast at 6:30pm, UK time, on 7 November 2012. The piece runs from 24:33 onwards and was available online until 6:59pm on Thursday 8 November 2012. The