Name: BRIGGS Raymond
BRITISH
Category: PB JF YA
Books:
The Mab RED FOX
About:
from Puffin Web:
Raymond Briggs was born in 1934 and educated at Rutlish School in Merton, South London. At the age of fifteen he went to Wimbledon School of Art, where he studied painting for four years in the old-fashioned way. This convinced him that he was really an illustrator not an artist. After completing a typography course at the Central School of Art, Raymond Briggs went on to the Slade School to study painting as a full-time student. In 1957 he left the Slade, set himself up in a small studio in Wimbledon and launched straight into the commercial world. Like so many illustrators, his first work was in advertising. Raymond Briggs didn't set out to illustrate children's books but after deciding that advertising was not for him. He was soon earning a living illustrating picture books and teaching illustration at Brighton College of Art.
His big breakthrough came in 1966 with a bumper nursery rhyme book THE MOTHER GOOSE TREASURY. He wrote his own text for FATHER CHRISTMAS, and used the strip-cartoon style initially to get more into the constraints of the 32 pages of a typical picture book. Raymond Briggs's books have been a major contributing factor in the increasing acceptance of the strip cartoon as a legitimate and highly effective art form. After FATHER CHRISTMAS came the success of FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN and THE SNOWMAN which was made into a film. Raymond Briggs's best-known adult work, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS, was first published in 1982.
Raymond Briggs is now firmly established as one of the world's best-known and most popular author/illustrators of books for children and adults.
Raymond Briggs works more slowly than many other authors because he creates the pictures as well as the words for his books. Sometimes this makes him grumble, a bit like Father Christmas. "A writer", he told London's EVENING STANDARD, "can write: The King, the Queen, the butcher and the huntsmen all turned around and ran the other way. That's sixty hours' work for me. How does the Queen's hair go at the back?"
Raymond Briggs was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for his illustrations for MOTHER GOOSE TREASURY in 1966 and again in 1973 for FATHER CHRISTMAS. He won the Francis Williams Award for Best Children's Book in 1982 with THE SNOWMAN.
Raymond Briggs now lives in the country in Sussex. His main interests are reading, gardening, cartoons, modern jazz and farm work.
Other books by RAYMOND BRIGGS
THE ELEPHANT AND THE BAD BABY (written by Elfrida Vipont) Picture Puffin
THE COMPLETE FATHER CHRISTMAS Picture Puffin
FATHER CHRISTMAS Picture Puffin
FATHER CHRISTMAS BOOK OF THE FILM Picture Puffin
FATHER CHRISTMAS GOES ON HOLIDAY Picture Puffin
FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN Picture Puffin
JIM AND THE BEANSTALK Picture Puffin
THE SNOWMAN Picture Puffin
THE SNOWMAN BOOK OF THE FILM Picture Puffin
THE SNOWMAN STORYBOOK Picture Puffin
THE FATHER CHRISTMAS IT'S A BLOOMING TERRIBLE JOKE BOOK Puffin Non-fiction
THE ELEPHANT AND THE BAD BABY (written by Elfrida Vipont) Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
FATHER CHRISTMAS Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
FATHER CHRISTMAS GAMES BOOK Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
FATHER CHRISTMAS GOES ON HOLIDAY Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
JIM AND THE BEANSTALK Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
THE SNOWMAN Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
THE SNOWMAN: CHUNKY BOOK Hamish Hamilton Board Book
THE SNOWMAN: A MINIATURE BOOK Hamish Hamilton Miniature Book
THE SNOWMAN SOFT-AND-SMALL BABY BOOK Hamish Hamilton Novelty Book
THE SNOWMAN STORY BOOK Hamish Hamilton Picture Book
Profiles:
TES OCT 9 1998
TIMES DEC 19 1998
TELEGRAPH SEP 8 2001 'My First Home'
ARGUS DEC 11 2001
TIMES DEC 18 2002
Articles by:
'The genius of Jimmy' GUARDIAN DEC 2001
Reviews:
Ug ST SEP 2 2001; TIMES OCT 17 2001; IND OCT 20 2001; GUARDIAN NOV 20 2001; GUARDIAN NOV 30 2001; DT DEC 1 2001; SUNDAY TELEGRAPH DEC 9 2001