Anthony Browne
About Author
Anthony Brown has won many prizes for his work, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (twice) and the Kurt Maschler Award (three times). In 2000 he received the highest international honour for illustration, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, for his services to children's literature - the first British illustrator to win the prize since 1956.
After leaving school, Anthony studied graphic design and then went on to paint the insides of people's bodies for medical textbooks. He found this fascinating but after three years found that the work was becoming repetitive ("if you've seen one stomach operation, you've seen 'em all!") and instead began designing greetings cards. This in turn led him to illustrating children's books - his book Gorilla began life as a picture on a birthday card.
Gorillas feature in many of Anthony's books. He says, "I am fascinated by them and the contrast they represent - their huge strength and gentleness. They're thought of as being very fierce creatures and they're not." Anthony's illustrations also reveal his love of the Surrealist painters, whose pictures often depict strange, dreamlike scenes (look out for all the disguised bananas hidden in Anthony's books!). When Anthony first has an idea for a picture book, he says, "it's a strange combination of story and images. Deciding what will be illustrated on the pages of a book is like deciding on the scenes of a film."
Interview
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