Famous Author : Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell is one of today's most highly acclaimed illustrators and the chief political cartoonist for the Observer. He has won numerous awards, including the Nestlé Gold Award, the UNESCO Prize, and the rare honour of two Kate Greenaway Medals. Chris has created over 100 books for children of all ages, including his hugely popular collaborations with Paul Stewart such as Muddle Earth and the Blobheads series. Wendel's Workshop, his second solo picture book for Macmillan, follows The Emperor of Absurdia.

Chris Riddell was born in 1962 in South Africa where his father worked as a vicar. The family returned to England when Chris was one year old, where he spent the rest of his childhood. Chris displayed artistic talent from an early age, and was encouraged in this by his mother.

He studied illustration at Brighton Polytechnic and has illustrated several picture books including Something Else by Kathryn Cave which was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize and which won the Unesco Award. The Swan's Stories by Brian Alderson was shortlisted for the 1997 Kurt Maschler Award and Castle Diary was shortlisted for the 1999 Kate Greenaway Medal. Pirate Diary won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2002 and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver won the 2004 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal.

Chris' popularity extends to the young teenage market with his collaboration with Paul Stewart on the best selling Edge Chronicles series, the ninth of which will be published later this year. For slightly younger children his Fergus Crane adventure series, again written by Paul Stewart, has achieved critical success with Fergus Crane winning the Smarties Gold Award and Corby Flood winning the Smarties Silver Award. An extraordinary achievement which cements Chris Riddell's position as one of the top illustrators working today.

In addition to his children's book work, Chris is a renowned political cartoonist whose work appears regularly in The Observer, The Literary Review and The New Statesman. One of his claims to fame is that he was the first cartoonist to depict William Hague in shorts; an illustration that William Hague subsequently bought!

Chris Riddell lives in Brighton with his wife and children.