~Anthony Browne

. .
Anthony Edward Tudor Browne was born 11 Sept. 1946
and is a British author and illustrator of children's books,
with nearly forty titles to his name.
He is the current Children's Laureate.
Anthony Browne was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
His parents, Jack and Doris May Browne, owned a
pub in Wyke, Yorkshire, and Browne grew up there.
As a young boy, he enjoyed art, and used to
draw with his father. He also played rugby in school,
as well as football and cricket.
His future ambition was to be a journalist,
a cartoonist, or a boxer.
He studied graphic design at Leeds College of Art,
where he graduated in 1967.
. .. .     .
He intended to become a painter, but being short
of money he took as job as a medical illustrator,
drawing the insides of bodies for
Manchester Royal Infirmary. After three years
he grew tired of the job's
repetitiveness and moved on to design greeting cards
for Gordon Fraser. He designed cards for fifteen years
before he started writing and illustrating his own books.
..
He had his first book published in 1976,
Through the Magic Mirror. It was not particularly
successful at first, although it is still in print.
A Walk in the Park followed and gained a cult
following. Bear Hunt was more commercially successful,
and his breakthrough came with Gorilla in 1983,
an idea from one of the greeting cards he had designed.
It won him the Kate Greenaway Medle,
which he won again in 1992 for Zoo.
He has also won the Kurt Maschler 'Emil' Award
three times, for Gorilla (1983),
Alice's Adventure in Wonderland (1988) and
Voices in the Park (1998). In 2000 he became
the first British illustrator ever to win the
Hans Christian Andersen Award, for his
services to children's literature.
..
Gorillas are frequently featured in Browne's books,
as he has said he is fascinated by them.
He was once asked to present a children's programme,
whilst sitting in a cage of gorillas, and despite
being badly bitten by one of them he got on with
it before being taken to hospital. His character "Willy"
is said to be based on himself. He currently resides in Kent.
..
  
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A selection of books illustrated by Browne:
Through the Magic Mirror, 1976
A Walk in the Park, 1977
Bear Hunt,  1979
Hansel and Gretel, 1981
Bear Goes to Town, 1982
Gorilla, 1983
Willy the Wimp, 1985
.

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Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, 1988
Little Bear Book, 1988
I Like Books, 1988
Things I Like, 1989
A Bear-y Tale, 1989
The Tunnel, 1990
Trail of Stones, 1990
The Night Shimmy, 1991
Zoo, 1993
The Daydreamer, 1994
King Kong, 1994
Willy the Wizard, 1995
Willy the Dreamer, 1997
Voices in the Park, 1998
..
Willy's Pictures, 2000
The Animal Fair, 2002
The Shape Game, 2003
Into the Forest,  2004
My Mum, 2005
Silly Billy, 2006
Little Beauty, 2008
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