- Korky Paul
Korky Paul is an illustrator of books for children.
He was born in
Harare ,Zimbabwe in 1951 into a family of seven children. His real name is Hamish Vigne Christie Paul. He enjoyed a wild and privileged childhood in the AfricanBushveld . At an early age he was reading comic books and scribbling cartoons.He scribbled his way through
Durban School of Art and for four years scribbled at an advertising agency inCape Town .In 1976, as Korky puts it, he "fled for Europe" and landed up in
Greece . Here he met a mad Scot, James Watt, working for a Greek publisher, who commissioned Korky to illustrate a series of educational books teaching Greek children to speak the 'Queen's English'. And so he began his career as a children's book illustrator.He spent some time working in an advertising agency in
London andLos Angeles , and then studied film animation underJules Engel atCalifornia Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Korky's first children's book was a pop-up called "The Crocodile and the Dumper Truck" published in 1980, with paper engineering by Ray Marshall.In 1986 Korky Paul met the editor Ron Heapy at
Oxford University Press , who commissioned him to illustrateWinnie the Witch . It won theChildren's Book Award in 1987 and has been published in over 10 languages. Korky has since illustrated more very successful books for Oxford, Random House, Penguin and many other publishers.Three of Korky's picture books have been adapted for CD-ROM; "Dragon Poems", "Winnie the Witch", and "The Fish Who Could Wish" which won the coveted
European Multi-Media Award (EMMA) in 1995.Korky Paul has very quickly become a well-known figure in the children's book world and he is especially popular with the young children who read his books and are carried away into a fantasy world by the illustrations.
In 2006, Korky Paul designed a Christmas card for
UNICEF Society Oxford.Korky Paul has original artwork on display at The Mazza Collection Galleria,
University of Findlay , Findlay, Ohio, USA. He is married to the artist Susan Moxley and they have two children, Zoe and Oska. They live inOxford , Britain.External links
* [http://www.korkypaul.com/index.html Korky Paul website]
* [http://www.ocbg.org.uk/ Oxford Children's Book Group] - a local charity for whom he has illustrated
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