Simon Basher is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

artist, illustrator and author based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. He is best known for his illustrated children's reference books, particularly the Basher Science series, which includes The Periodic Table, the world's best-selling children's book on the periodic table of the elements.

Life and career

Basher studied illustration at both the Epsom School of Art and Design (which merged with Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College in 1994) and Lincoln College, Lincolnshire. After graduating in 1992, he was a member of the rock / hip-hop band Boasti who enjoyed

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

chart success and toured with Senser,

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () were a British rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", " Enou ...

and

Dub War Dub War are a four-piece metal band from Newport, Wales. Formed in 1993, the band's musical style is a mix of metal, punk, and reggae. Biography Dub War formed in 1993 in Wales. The band released two albums, via the metal label Earache Record ...

. From 1995, he worked as a session musician for various record labels including

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Rhythm King Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London. History Beginnings Starting out as an offshoot of D ...

and

Talkin' Loud Talkin' Loud was a record label, originally founded by Gilles Peterson in 1990 after he left Acid Jazz Records. The label name is based on Peterson's Dingwalls club night "Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Something", itself a reference to James Brown and ...

both in

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 ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He toured the UK extensively with different acts and was a performer with the band Posh at the Songs & Visions

Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

Concert Tour at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in 1997. From 1998, he ran a musician and artist management company and along with record producer

Paul Epworth Paul Richard Epworth (born 25 July 1974) is an English record producer, songwriter, musician, and remixer. He has worked with artists including Adele, Florence and the Machine, Rihanna, and Maxïmo Park, among many others. He is a member o ...

was one of the founding members of the 93 Feet East music venue. In 2000, Simon returned to art and illustration. Working under the name Basher, he created his

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

character style exhibiting and selling original artwork and

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

prints both internationally and in the U.K. In 2002 and 2006, he exhibited at two solo shows 'look how bright and brave they are' and 'Hello Oddbod' in The Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London. In 2004, the Basher clothing range was launched in Selfridges. In 2007, the first book in the Basher Science series, The Periodic Table, was published by Kingfisher to critical and commercial acclaim. He has since published over 50 books across eight series including Basher Science, History, Basics and Go!Go! BoBo. His art style has been best described as "graphic surrealism". His books are available in over twenty countries and have sold nearly 4 million copies worldwide. In 2017, the Basher Science toy line was launched in the US in partnership with

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

. Basher books are available in more than 20 countries, including the UK, USA, South Korea, Japan and China and have sold nearly four million copies worldwide.

Work

Basher received a Graphic Design HND from

Lincoln College of Art The Lincoln College of Art was an educational institution devoted to the arts, based in the English city of Lincoln with its origins in the mid-nineteenth century. The institution changed shape and name numerous times over its history before bein ...

in 1992, with contemporaries such as Lydia Monks (see Julia Donaldson). Starting in 2006, Basher began writing and illustrating a series of books aimed at making science relevant and interesting. His first work was "Rocks and Minerals", which he wrote with illustrator Dan Green, which was published in December 2006. His second book, on the

Periodic Table The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of ch ...

, invited the reader to enjoy "Elements with Style!". While Dan Green works with most of Basher's later books, ''The Periodic Table'' was written with Adrian Dingle, and was published in 2007. It received positive reviews from ''Publishers Weekly'' and the Royal Society of Chemistry, and it is the most successful of Basher's books. In 2011 Basher started a series of books for toddlers called Go!Go! BoBo.

Bibliography

All titles were published by Kingfisher, a division of

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, except as indicated.

Science Series

* ''Rocks and Minerals: A Gem of a Book!'' (2006) * '' The Periodic Table: Elements With Style!'' (2007) * ''Physics: Why Matter Matters!'' (2008) * ''Biology: Life as We Know It!'' (2008) * ''Astronomy: Out of This World!'' (2009) * ''Planet Earth: What Planet Are You On?'' (2010) * ''Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction!'' (2010) * ''Algebra and Geometry: Anything But Square!'' (2011) * ''Human Body: A Book With Guts!'' (2011) * ''Oceans: Making Waves!'' (2012) * ''Technology: a Byte-Sized World!'' (2012) * ''Extreme Physics: Take a Quantum Leap...to the Edge of Science'' (2013) * ''Extreme Biology: From Superbugs to Clones... Get to the Edge of Science'' (2013) * ''Climate Change: A Hot Topic!'' (2015) * ''Microbiology: It's a Small World!'' (2015) * ''The Complete Periodic Table: More Elements With Style!'' (2015) * ''Engineering: The Riveting World of Buildings and Machines'' (2017) * ''A to Z of Science'' (2019)

Basics Series

* ''Math: A Book You Can Count On!'' (2010) * ''Punctuation: The Write Stuff!'' (2010) * ''Grammar: The Bill of Writes!'' (2011) * ''Music: Hit the Right Note!'' (2011) * ''Dinosaurs: The Bare Bones!'' (2012) * ''Weather: Whipping Up a Storm!'' (2012) * ''Creative Writing: The Plot Thickens!'' (2013) * ''Space Exploration: It IS Rocket Science!'' (2013)

Basher STEM Junior Series

* ''STEM Science'' (2020) * ''STEM Technology'' (2020) * ''STEM Engineering'' (2020) * ''STEM Math'' (2020)

Individual Titles

* ''Basher ABC'' (2012) * ''Basher 123'' (2012) * ''Basher Science Sticker Book'' (2012) * ''Money: How to Save, Spend, and Manage Your Moolah'' (2021)

Superstars Series

* ''Superstars of History'' (2014), published by

Scholastic Corporation Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

* ''Superstars of Science'' (2014), published by

History Series

* ''U.S. Presidents: Oval Office All-stars'' (2013) * ''Mythology: the Stuff of Legends! (''also known as ''Mythology: Oh My! Gods and Goddesses)'' (2013) * ''States And Capitals: United we Stand!'' (2014) * ''Civics: Democracy Rules!'' (2020) * ''Legendary Creatures: Unleash the Beasts!'' (2021) * ''National Parks: Where the Wild Things Are!'' (2022)

Geography Series

* ''Countries of the World: an Atlas With Attitude!'' (2018)

Mini Series

* ''Pandemic: When a Virus Goes Viral'' (2021) * ''Green Technology: The Ultimate Clean-up Act!'' (2021) * ''Artificial Intelligence: When Computers Get Smart!'' (2022) * ''Chess: We’ve Got All the Best Moves!'' (2022) * ''Forensics: Cracking Cases!'' (2023) * ''Extreme Weather: It’s Really Wild!'' (2023)

Go!Go! BoBo Series

* ''Colors'' (US) (2011) * ''Colours'' (UK) (2011) * ''Shapes'' (2011)"Publishers Weekly review"
* ''Time'' (2012) * ''Opposites'' (2012)

Coding Series

* ''Code your own Website'', with Hansel Lynn and Wayne Teng of ''theCoderSchool'' (2019) * ''Coding with Scratch'', with Hansel Lynn and Wayne Teng of ''theCoderSchool'' (2019)

References

External links

Simon Basher’s websiteImperfect Parent Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basher, Simon Children's non-fiction writers 21st-century English artists Artists from London English children's book illustrators English expatriates in the Netherlands Living people 1970 births