Leigh Hobbs (born 18 April 1953) is an Australian artist and author. He is best known in Australia and the United Kingdom for the humorous children's books which he has written and illustrated, although he has produced works across a wide range of mediums. His books principally feature the characters ''Old Tom'', ''Horrible Harriet'', ''Fiona the Pig'', ''Mr Badger'' and ''Mr Chicken'', and characters from the ''4F for FREAKS'' books. He was the

Australian Children's Laureate The Australian Children's Laureate is a role appointed to an Australian children's author and/or illustrator with the purpose of promoting the power of reading to children. It is a two-year role and was inaugurated in 2011, for the 2012–2013 pe ...

for 2016–17.

Life and career

Leigh Hobbs was born in Williamstown in Victoria, Australia and grew up in the town of

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at Ju ...

. After graduating from Caulfield Institute of Technology art school (now Monash University) in 1973, he was employed as an artist at Sydney's

Luna Park Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-sc ...

, an amusement park located adjacent to the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

. While there he designed the colour scheme for the antique carousel, and created two large three-dimensional characters called ''Larry'' and ''Lizzy Luna'', which now reside at Sydney's

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Park, Sydney, Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle ...

. Between 1978 and 2002 Hobbs supported his artistic career by working as a secondary school

art teacher Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what ...

. In 1980 Hobbs held a one-man show of caricature sculptures at the Rex Irwin Gallery in Sydney. Between 1985 and 2010 he was a freelance contributing cartoonist for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' newspaper 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 ...

, Victoria. Since 1999 time a number of major profiles of Hobbs and his work have been published. In 1983 Leigh Hobbs created a series of glazed ceramic tea pots in the shape of Melbourne's

Flinders Street Station Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders Street, Melbourne, Flinders and Swanston Street, Swanston streets in the Melbourne city centre, central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria (Austral ...

. These are in the collection of a number of galleries including the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

. In 1999 Hobbs designed the colour scheme for the entrance to Melbourne's

in St. Kilda. Between 1998 and 2002 a French/Australian co-produced animated cartoon TV series Old Tom was created based on his ''Old Tom'' books, and over 50 episodes were broadcast in Australia on ABC TV. In 2013 Australia's

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

(NIDA) adapted Hobbs' book ''Mr Chicken Goes To Paris'' for the stage and the book is a popular title in the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

bookshop in Paris. Leigh Hobbs's children's books are often described as working on a number of levels and could be seen as gently subversive. For example, Hobbs's most popular creation, ''Old Tom'', is a grotesque one eyed cat, but the word cat is never used in the books. Old Tom's 'owner' a prim matron like character called Angela Throgmorton thinks of Old Tom as her 'son' and the stories revolve around her efforts to socialise this creature who is in fact like a seven-year-old boy trying to break free of a mothers constraints. Hobbs has frequently been shortlisted for the CBCA's Picture Book of the Year award, his books have won many of the major children's choice awards in Australia, and in 2010 ''Old Tom'' was short-listed for the

Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

Leigh Hobbs's artwork, paintings, drawings, prints, illustrations and ceramics are to be found in numerous private collections, public art galleries, and institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Libraries of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. A 1993 photo-portrait by Francis Reiss of Hobbs at work is held in Australia's National Portrait Gallery. Leigh Hobbs was the Australian Children's Laureate for 2016 & 2017. In 2019 Australia Post featured Leigh and his character Mr Chicken on an 'Australian Legends of Children's Literature' postage stamp

Personal life

He lives in Melbourne with his partner the writer

Dmetri Kakmi Dmetri Kakmi (born 1961) is a Turkish-born, ethnic Greek, Australian essayist, reviewer, speaker, broadcaster, editor and author. He was born on the island of Tenedos (called "Bozcaada" since its annexation by Turkey in 1923) to Greek parents. Th ...

.Good Weekend
Retrieved 3 April 2019

Bibliography

The following books were written and illustrated by Leigh Hobbs: * ''Old Tom'' (1994) * ''Old Tom at the Beach'' (1995) * ''Old Tom goes To Mars'' (1996) * ''Old Tom’s Guide to Being Good'' (1998) * ''Horrible Harriet'' (2001) * ''Old Tom’s Holiday'' (2002) * ''Old Tom Man of Mystery'' (2003) * ''Fiona The Pig'' (2004) * ''Hooray For Horrible Harriet'' (2005) * ''4F For Freaks'' (2006) * ''Fiona The Pig’s Big Day'' (2006) * ''Freaks Ahoy'' (2007) * ''Old Tom’s Big Book of Beauty'' (2007) * ''A Friend For Old Tom'' (2008) * ''Mr Chicken Goes To Paris'' (2009) * ''Mr Badger and The Big Surprise'' (2010) * ''Mr Badger and The Missing Ape'' (2010) * ''Mr Badger and The Difficult Duches''s (2011) * ''Mr Badger and The Magic Mirror'' (2011) * ''Horrible Harriet’s Inheritance'' (2012) * ''Mr Chicken Lands on London'' (2014) * ''Mr Chicken arriva a Roma'' (2016) * ''Mr Chicken All Over Australia'' (2019) * ''Horrible Harriet and The Terrible Tantrum'' (2021)

References

External links

Leigh Hobbs' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Leigh 1953 births Living people Australian children's writers Australian illustrators Australian gay writers Australian gay artists People from Bairnsdale Artists from Victoria (state) Australian cartoonists Monash University alumni 20th-century Australian LGBT people 21st-century Australian LGBT people