Regolo Ricci (born 1955) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

artist working mainly in oils and

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s. He was born in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and came to Canada as a young child. He is best known for his work as a children's book

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, and he was nominated for the Canada Council for the Arts

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for Children's Book Illustration in 2000. As of 2006 he lived in

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

, Ontario. Ricci and the writer

Michael Bedard Michael Bedard (born June 26, 1949) is a Canadian children's writer. He was born and raised in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1971 with a BA in philosophy and English. He began writing when his for ...

created picture book editions of literary fairy tales by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

, namely "

The Nightingale The common nightingale is a songbird found in Eurasia. Nightingale may also refer to: Birds * Thrush nightingale, a songbird found in Eurasia * Red-billed leiothrix, a songbird of the Indian Subcontinent Literature * "Nightingale" (short sto ...

" and "

The Tinder Box "The Tinderbox" ( da, Fyrtøjet) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a soldier who acquires a magic tinderbox capable of summoning three powerful dogs to do his bidding. When the soldier has one of the dogs transport a sleep ...

" (1835 and 1843,

Danish language Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schles ...

). They won the annual IODE Ontario Children's Book Award (now Jean Thorp Award) for ''The Nightingale'' in 1991."IODE Children's Book Award"
''Literary Awards in Canada, 1923–2000''. Litawards.library.mun.ca. Retrieved 2015-07-22. Ricci's earliest book listed in the

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 ...

catalogue is ''The Lightning Bolt'', another picture book written by Bedard, which was published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1989. ''The Market Wedding'' (2000), written by Cary Fagan, is "based on an old Yiddish tale". It was a runner-up for the Sydney Taylor Book Award and Ricci was one of five nominees for the Governor General's Award in children's literature illustration that year.

Selected works

* ''The Lightning Bolt'' (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989), picture book written by

, * ''The Tinder Box'' ( OUP, 1990), adapted by Bedard from

, * ''The Nightingale'' (OUP, 1991), by Bedard from Andersen, * ''The Market Wedding'' (

Tundra Books In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

, 2000), by Cary Fagan; 2014

Groundwood Books House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. History Anans ...

edition, "The Market Wedding"
Review by Leslie A. Kimmelman. Jewish Book Council. 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-23.

References

External links

* 1955 births Artists from Ontario Canadian illustrators Italian emigrants to Canada Living people People from Mississauga Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{illustrator-stub