Cressida Cowell | |
---|---|
Born | London, England | 15 April 1966
Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Notable works | How to Train Your Dragon |
Spouse | Simon Cowell |
Children | 3 |
Signature | |
Website | |
www |
Cressida Cowell MBE FRSL (born 15 April 1966) [1] is a British children's author, popularly known for the book series, How to Train Your Dragon , which has subsequently become an award-winning franchise as adapted for the screen by DreamWorks Animation. [2] As of 2015, the series has sold more than seven million copies around the world. [3]
In addition to her other publications, Cowell works with illustrator Neal Layton [4] in the ongoing series of Emily Brown stories. The first in the series, That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown , won a Nestlé Children’s Book Award.
The Hon. Cressida Cowell was born on 15 April 1966 in London. She is the daughter of Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham. Her uncle, by marriage, is U.S. Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer.
As a child, Cowell states she "grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland," [5] and that it was during summers spent on the Inner Hebrides, [6] where she first began to develop her writing and drawing skills:
"From then on, every year we spent four weeks of the summer and two weeks of the spring on the island. The house was lit by candle-light, and there was no telephone or television, so I spent a lot of time drawing and writing stories." [7]
Cowell attended Keble College, Oxford where she studied English, and she also attended Saint Martin's School of Art and Brighton University where she learned illustration. She studied at Marlborough College [8] [9] 1982–84. [10]
Cressida Cowell presently resides in London [11] with her husband Simon, a former director and interim CEO of the International Save the Children Alliance; daughters Maisie and Clementine; and son Alexander. [12] [13]
How to Train Your Dragon books
Related books
Emily Brown books
The Wizards of Once books
The Treetop Twins Adventures books
| The Treetop Twins: Wilderness Adventures books
The Tiny Detectives books
Other books
|
Cowell was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to children's literature. [17]
In 2021, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). [18]
Children's Laureate, now known as the Waterstones Children's Laureate, is a prestigious position awarded in the United Kingdom once every two years to a "writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field." The role promotes the importance of children’s literature, reading, creativity and storytelling while promoting the right of every child to enjoy a lifetime of books and stories. Each Laureate uses their tenure to focus on an aspect of children’s books – these have included poetry, storytelling, readers with disabilities and illustration.
Little Colonsay is an uninhabited island west of the island of the Isle of Mull in Scotland. The geology of the island is columnar basalt, similar to that of neighbouring Staffa. It is part of the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.
How to Train Your Dragon is a series of children's books written by British author Cressida Cowell. The books are set in a fictional Viking world, and focus on the experiences of protagonist Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, as he overcomes obstacles on his journey of "becoming a hero, the hard way". The books were published by Hodder Children's Books in the UK and by Little, Brown and Company in the US. The first book was published in 2003 and the 12th and final one in 2015. By 2015, the series had sold more than seven million copies around the world. The books have subsequently been adapted into a media franchise consisting of three animated feature films, several television series and other media, all produced by DreamWorks Animation.
Lauren Margot Peachy Child is an English children's author and illustrator. She is best known for the Charlie and Lola picture book series and other book series. Her influences include E. H. Shepard, Quentin Blake, Carl Larsson, and Ludwig Bemelmans.
The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme Blue Peter. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999 and 2000. The awards were managed by reading charity, BookTrust, from 2006 until the final award in 2022. From 2013 until the final award, there were two award categories: Best Story and Best Book with Facts.
Nicola Davies, earlier known as Nick Davies, is an English zoologist and writer. She was one of the original presenters of the BBC children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show. More recently, she has made her name as a children's author. Her books include Home, which was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award, and Poo (2004), which was illustrated by Neal Layton, and was shortlisted for a Blue Peter Book Award in 2006; in the United States, the book is published as Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable. Her children's picture book The Promise won the Green Book Award in 2015. She has also written several novels for adults under the pseudonym Stevie Morgan.
The Hampshire Book Awards are an annual series of literary awards given to works of children's literature. The awards are run by Hampshire County Council's School Library Service.
Sean Taylor is a British author of children's books. He was born in 1965 and grew up in Surrey, England, he taught in Zimbabwe before studying at Cambridge. He currently divides his time between the United Kingdom and Brazil, where his wife is from.
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown is a children's picture book written by Cressida Cowell and illustrated by Neal Layton, published in 2006. It won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award, as well as being shortlisted for the Booktrust Early Years Awards and longlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal.
Helen Gillian Oxenbury is an English illustrator and writer of children's picture books. She lives in North London. She has twice won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal, the British librarians' award for illustration and been runner-up four times. For the 50th anniversary of that Medal (1955–2005) her 1999 illustrated edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was named one of the top ten winning works.
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 American animated action fantasy film loosely based on the 2003 book of the same name by Cressida Cowell, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois from a screenplay by Will Davies, Sanders, and DeBlois, and stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, and Kristen Wiig. The story takes place in Berk, a mythical Viking village; Hiccup, an undersized teen wishing to become a dragon slayer like the other Vikings, injures a rare Night Fury dragon but is unable to bring himself to kill it. He instead helps and befriends the dragon, and quickly discovers that things are not exactly as they seem in the conflict between Vikings and dragons.
Polly Dunbar is an English author-illustrator.
BookTrust is a UK children's reading charity dedicated to getting children reading.
Cowell is an English language surname.
How to Train Your Dragon is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous series of children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). The franchise also contains five short films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010), Book of Dragons (2010), Gift of the Night Fury (2011), Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019). A live-action reboot from Universal Pictures is in development and scheduled for release on June 13, 2025.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a 2019 American animated action fantasy film loosely based on the book series by Cressida Cowell. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and the third and final installment of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. Written and directed by Dean DeBlois and produced by Bonnie Arnold and Brad Lewis, the film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, and F. Murray Abraham. The film follows 21-year old Hiccup seeking a dragon utopia known as the "Hidden World" while coming to terms with Toothless' new bond with a female Fury, as they deal with the threat of a ruthless dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisly.
Liz Pichon is a British author and illustrator of children's books. She is best known for her Tom Gates series of "satirical realist comedy fiction", which has sold 16.5 million copies and has been translated into 44 languages across 47 international markets.
Neal Layton is a British illustrator of children's books including Oscar and Arabella (2002) and Bartholomew and the Bug (2004) which won both the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Bronze Awards.
How to Train Your Dragon 2: Music from the Motion Picture is a soundtrack album to the 2014 film How to Train Your Dragon 2, and was released by Relativity Music Group on June 13, 2014. The film is a sequel to the 2010 film How to Train Your Dragon, which itself based on the British book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell, and is the second instalment in the How to Train Your Dragon film series. The score is composed by John Powell, who also scored for its predecessor. In addition to the original score featured, Powell also collaborated with Jónsi, to write two songs for the film, which were performed by Jónsi, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson and Mary Jane Wells, while a song "Into a Fantasy" performed by Alexander Rybak was released on June 9, and was included in the European version of the soundtrack. Much like the score of the first instalment, this score received critical acclaim praising Powell for his work in the film. A limited edition soundtrack was published by Varèse Sarabande label in May 2022. It featured previously unedited cues and demos from the compositions.
How to Train Your Dragon is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation.