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Profile
Gavin Bishop is one of New Zealand’s foremost children’s
picture book authors and artists. He has written about his Māori ancestors,
as well as illustrating well-known European tales within a distinctively New
Zealand setting. His technically excellent illustrations are respected and sought
after worldwide.
Selected published works
Bidibidi, 1982; Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant, 1982; The Horror of Hickory Bay, 1984;
Katarina, 1990; Hinepau, 1992; Aim Picture Book of the Year 1993;
Maui and the Sun, 1996; The House that Jack Built, 1999, Book
of The Year, 2000 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards; Pip the
Penguin (with Joy Cowley), 2001; Taming the Sun, 2004; Kiwi Moon, 2005, winner of The Russell Clark Award in the LIANZA Childrens Book Awards 2006; Riding the Waves: Four Maori Myths, 2006; Snake and Lizard, 2007, winner of the New Zealand Post Childrens Book Awards, Book of the Year and Junior Fiction 2008; and Rats!, 2007; Piano Rock: A 1950s Childhood here Was An Old Woman 2008.
Publishers
Random House New Zealand
www.randomhouse.co.nz
Scholastic New Zealand Limited
www.scholastic.co.nz
Biography
Gavin Bishop was born in Invercargill in 1946 and spent his childhood
at Kingston, a small town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. This country childhood
in southern New Zealand gave him a love of the New Zealand landscape, especially
the light and colour of the Canterbury Plains.
He attended university in Christchurch, graduating with an Honours degree
in painting. Since giving up a 30-year career teaching in high schools, Gavin
has worked at home, writing and illustrating full-time. He is a well-respected
illustrator who has been invited to lecture in China, Japan and the United States,
where he is regarded as one of the top children’s book illustrators because
of his skill with technique and composition. His distinctive ink and watercolour
illustrations appear with his original text in books like The Horror of
Hickory Bay and Little Rabbit and the Sea (1997) and alongside
traditional stories in his re-telling of The Three Little Pigs (1989)
or Maui and the Sun. The House that Jack Built was Book of
The Year in the 2000 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. Combining
the words of the traditional nursery rhyme with pictures illustrating the post-colonial
history of New Zealand, the book was praised by critics and judges alike. In
2000, Bishop was honoured by the Children’s Literature Foundation of New
Zealand with its Margaret Mahy Lecture Award, and in 2003, he was joint holder
of the Ursula Bethell Residency at Canterbury University.
While many of Bishop’s books are retellings of traditional stories, in
recent years he has explored his own ancestry for stories from his bicultural
heritage. He has also written and designed two ballets for the Royal New Zealand
Ballet.
Bishop is a licensed user of toi iho™, a registered trademark denoting
authenticity and quality of Māori arts.
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