Helen Cooper (illustrator)

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Helen Cooper
Born1963
London, UK
Occupation(s)Freelance author and illustrator
Years active1987–present
ChildrenPandora [1]
Website helencooperbooks.co.uk

Helen Sonia Cooper (born 1963 in London) is a British illustrator and an author of children's literature. She grew up in Cumbria, where she practiced literature and piano playing. She currently lives in Oxford. [1]

Contents

Cooper has twice been awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. [2] [3] She won for The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed in 1996, which she wrote and illustrated. [4] In 1998 she won for Pumpkin Soup, which she also wrote and illustrated. They were consecutive projects for her. [5]

Beside winning the two Greenaway Medals (no one has won three), Cooper made the shortlist for The Bear Under the Stairs (Doubleday, 1993) and Tatty Ratty (Doubleday, 2001). [6] [7]

As well as her solo picture books, Cooper writes picture book texts for other illustrators, and also illustrates her own middle grade fiction - most recently, The Taming of the Cat published by Faber and Faber in the UK.

WorldCat reports that Pumpkin Soup is her work most widely held in participating libraries. [8]

Personal life

Cooper was married to Ted Dewan, a fellow children's book author and illustrator and they have one daughter. They are now divorced. [9]

Works

Cooper is both the writer and the illustrator of many published picture books and a set of four "mini-books" about toy animals (1994), later packaged in English, Spanish, and Catalan languages as Toy Tales (1999). [8] She has illustrated a few books by other writers [6] and written one book with another illustrator, as noted.

References

  1. 1 2 "Helen Cooper - Macmillan" . Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  2. (Greenaway Winner 1996). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  3. (Greenaway Winner 1998). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  4. Brennan, Geraldine (1997). "Drawing on Memories of Vegas". TES: Times Educational Supplement. Vol. 4229, no. 9.
  5. "Helen Cooper". Authors: A–Z. The Random House Group . Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Picture Books Main Page". Helen Cooper. Retrieved 3 September 2012. (See also the left menu.)
  7. Press Desk Archived 28 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine (directory). CILIP. Retrieved 16 July 2012. Quote: "media releases relating to the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards in date order." (2002 to 2006 releases concern 2001 to 2005 awards.)
  8. 1 2 "Cooper, Helen (Helen F.)". WorldCat. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  9. Rockman, Connie (2004). "Helen Cooper". Ninth Book of Junior Authors & Illustrators via Bio Ref Bank.
  10. "Walker Books - Saving the Butterfly". www.walker.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2022.