Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne
Anthony Edward Tudor Browne is a British writer and illustrator of children's books, primarily picture books, with nearly forty titles to his name. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 2009 to 2011 he was Children's Laureate...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionChildren's Author
Date of Birth11 September 1946
drawing battle paper
The first things I remember drawing were battles - big sheets of paper covered in terrible scenes of carnage - though when you looked closely, there were little jokes and speech bubbles and odd things going on in the background.
age draw drawing point six talk typical
When I talk to children, I show them a typical drawing I made when I was six and point out to them that when I was their age, I didn't draw any better than any of them.
draw
Everyone can draw when they're five. Most of us lose the ability.
Writers are articulate. Artists find it more difficult.
cowboys foreground funny gruesome indians layers liked stories
As a child, I'd always liked cowboys and Indians stories where there were two layers - gruesome in the foreground but funny in the background.
aware born capable children far pictures social worried
I never want to make a child worried or afraid, and I don't think I do. My pictures are born from the belief that children are far more capable and aware of social complexities than we give them credit for.
age aiming particular readers suppose
I don't like narrowing my readers down - there's not a particular age or gender or nationality. I suppose I'm aiming at the child I was.
age brother coming died front half heart home promoted rugby watch wonderful
I had just been promoted to the first rugby team. It was a perfect, wonderful coming of age. My brother was already in the team, and my father had come to watch us. We went home, and my father died in front of me. Horribly, in about half an hour. He had a heart attack.
The first thing I put down on paper is a storyboard, like a film director.
education happens lose
Something happens to our creativity as we go through the education process; most of us lose touch with it.
forced incredible libraries outrageous public school
I find it incredible and outrageous that public and school libraries are being forced to close - we'll all pay the price in the long term.
man physically
Gorillas remind me of my father. He was a very big, physically strong man but also very sensitive.
although good prefer work
Although I have two good Anglepoise lights, I much prefer to work by daylight.
book dad five found god positive superhero wrote
One day, I found my dad's dressing-gown in an old suitcase, and it transported me back to when I was five and thought he was a god or a superhero who could do anything. After that, I wrote my first positive book about fathers, about my dad.