Chris Riddell, OBE, is the creator of an extraordinary range of books which have won many illustration awards including the UNESCO Prize, the Greenaway Medal (on three occasions) and the Hay Festival Medal for Illustration. As an author his work includes the highly-acclaimed Ottoline titles and the 2013 Costa Children’s Book Award-winning Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse. Chris has also achieved global success through his New York Times best-selling collaboration on The Edge Chronicles with Paul Stewart and through his illustrated works with other high-profile figures including Neil Gaiman and the comedian Russell Brand.
Chris is also a renowned political cartoonist whose work appears in the Observer, the Literary Review and the New Statesman. Appointed Waterstones Children’s Laureate UK in 2015 for his outstanding achievements, he said ‘during my term, I want to use the immediacy and universality of illustration to bring people together and lead them all into the wonderful world of books and reading.’ He is president of the Schools Library Association, and an ambassador for Booktrust and Amnesty International.