Joyce Dunbar

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Joyce Dunbar
Born (1944-01-06) 6 January 1944 (age 81)
Scunthorpe, England
OccupationWriter
GenreChildren's books
Website
joycedunbar.com

Joyce Dunbar (born 6 January 1944) [1] is an English writer. She primarily writes books for children, and has published over seventy books. [2] Dunbar is perhaps best known for Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep, This Is The Star, and the Mouse and Mole series. [2] She is the mother of the children's writer-illustrator Polly Dunbar.

Contents

Biography

Dunbar was born in 1944 in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire,[ citation needed ] and is one of four children. [3] Her father was a steel-worker and her mother was a fishing net maker. [3] She grew up in Lincolnshire. [4]

Dunbar attended Goldsmiths College in London, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English.[ citation needed ] After that, she did several jobs, working as a nanny, a waitress, a barmaid, and a salesperson. [3] In 1968, she started working as a teacher in a college drama department of Stratford-on-Avon, England.[ citation needed ] However, due to her gradual loss of hearing,[ citation needed ] Dunbar had to stop her teaching career and in 1989, she became a full-time writer. [2]

Dunbar has two grown up children: Ben, a fashion photographer and Polly, an author illustrator. [2] [5] Dunbar currently lives in Norwich. [4]

Career

Writing

Dunbar published her first children's book at age 35. [4] In 1985, Dunbar published Mundo and the Weather-Child – a novel about the imaginary friend of a deaf child, which helped her become a runner up for the Guardian Fiction Award.[ citation needed ] In 1990, her book A Bun for Barney was made into an interactive video game by BBC Multimedia Corporation.[ citation needed ]

In 1998, she wrote Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep, which is recommended as a book to help children feel secure. In 2002 Dunbar did a book tour in the United States to promote this book. [2] Her 2005 picture book Shoe Baby, illustrated by her daughter Polly, was made into a puppet show and is part of the 2006 Brighton Festival. [2]

Dunbar most well-known series, Mouse and Mole (illustrated by James Mayhew), has been adapted into a 26-part television animation series by Grasshopper Productions, with voices lent by Alan Bennett and Richard Briers. [2] [6]

Other projects

Being a deaf person, [7] [8] Dunbar has participated in a number of campaigns on behalf of deaf people. In 1998, Dunbar cycled across Cuba in order to raise funds for the National Deaf Children's Society. [3] [6] Her journal Cycle Cuba, a record of this event, was published in 1999. [2] That same year, she had a trip to the Himalayas in support of the founding of a new ashram. [3] Dunbar has also taught English writing for children from Greek island Skyros. [6]

Dunbar is on the steering group for the Picture project run by SCOPE, which is about the representation of children with disability in picture books. [9]

Selected bibliography

Children's fiction
Panda & Gander Series
Mouse and Mole Series (illustrated by James Mayhew) [15]

Corgi Pups Collection (illustrated by Alison de Verde)

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References

  1. ↑ "Dunbar, Joyce 1944-". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Joyce Dunbar author profile Archived 7 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine from eastanglianwriters.org
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Author biography Archived 3 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine from scholastic.com
  4. 1 2 3 Joyce Dunbar interview Archived 22 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine from Double luck.
  5. ↑ The best new picture book illustrators from The Times
  6. 1 2 3 The Glass Garden at Google Books
  7. ↑ Joyce Dunbar from Random House
  8. ↑ In the picture Archived 30 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine from Disability now
  9. ↑ Steering Group Archived 21 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine from Children in the Picture.
  10. ↑ "Pat-a-cake Baby". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "Puss Jekyll Cat Hyde". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Shoe Baby". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. 1 July 2005. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Eggday". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. 1 March 1999. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "The Secret Friend". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. 1 March 1999. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Mouse & Mole". Graffeg Books. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  16. ↑ OpenLibrary.org. "Hip Dip Dip With Mouse and Mole (Corgi Pups) by Joyce Dunbar | Open Library". Open Library. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  17. ↑ OpenLibrary.org. "Ups and Downs of Mouse and Mole by Joyce Dunbar | Open Library". Open Library. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
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