Background
Colin Thompson was born as Colin Willment, on October 18, 1942, in London, United Kingdom.
24 Shelton St, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9UB, United Kingdom
The London Film School where Colin Thompson did his studies.
(When a seafaring grandfather returns home for the last ti...)
When a seafaring grandfather returns home for the last time, his ten-year-old grandson searches for the great treasure hidden in the sailor's old wooden chest.
https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Atlantis-Dragonfly-Books-Thompson/dp/0679885471/?tag=2022091-20
1993
(Book lovers of all ages can take an enchanted journey thr...)
Book lovers of all ages can take an enchanted journey through a labyrinthine fantasy library filled with every book ever written, where the shelves come alive at night, like teeming miniature cities.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Forever-Colin-Thompson/dp/067987898X/?tag=2022091-20
1995
(Dreams, imagination, growing up and a very special relati...)
Dreams, imagination, growing up and a very special relationship between a young girl and her grandmother are at the heart of this beautifully illustrated book from a master storyteller.
https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Angels-Colin-Thompson/dp/0091768179/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(An ingenious picture book to pore over, again and again, ...)
An ingenious picture book to pore over, again and again, inch by inch, from the acclaimed creator of The The Last Alchemist, Looking for Atlantis, Paperbag Prince, and The Paradise Garden.
https://www.amazon.com/Castles-Colin-Thompson/dp/0099439425/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(When Jeremy goes home to live with George and his grandmo...)
When Jeremy goes home to live with George and his grandmother, their whole lives change, and they learn that when it comes to love, it's quality not quantity that counts.
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Little-Book-Happy-Sadness/dp/1933605901/?tag=2022091-20
2008
Colin Thompson was born as Colin Willment, on October 18, 1942, in London, United Kingdom.
Colin Thompson studied at boarding school in Yorkshire and later at a grammar school in West London.
After, he spent two years in art schools in Ealing and Hammersmith districts of London.
Later, Thompson was a student of the London Film School.
The start of Colin Thompson’s career can be counted from his service as a silkscreen painter and graphic designer. Then, after studying film at the London Film School, he worked for the BBC creating documentaries.
In the late 1960s, Thompson moved to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides islands and in 1975 to Cumbria. During this time, he began specializing in ceramics while living in a remote farmhouse raising his family, and caring for his numerous adopted pets.
It was only in the 1990s when he set up a career as a writer and illustrator. The first illustrations that he sent to a publishing house dated to 1990. Soon, he wrote a story on them and remade them in color. Thompson’s first children’s book, the easy reader ‘Ethel the Chicken’, appeared the same year. Its heroine, Ethel, lived in a box labeled First Class Oranges, and had been all but forgotten since the death of the old woman who used to feed her.
The debut volume was followed by a couple of others two years later. The second picture book, ‘The Paper Bag Prince’, was a tale, set in a town dump, expressed a simple yet strongly pro-environmental message, ‘Pictures of Home’, represented something of a departure for Colin Thompson. The work consisted of many detailed illustrations of houses, originally produced for the Leeds Permanent Building Society, accompanying several short, poetic texts provided by British schoolchildren. These words described each child’s individual interpretation of the home. Although critics generally approved of Thompson’s almost surreal paintings, many found the book to be uncohesive overall, noting that a true connection between text and illustration was lacking.
In his next picture book, 1993 ‘Looking for Atlantis’, Thompson returned to the precise joining of text and pictures that was so successful in his earlier works. A man looks back to his childhood and the return of his grandfather from an ocean voyage. The picture book mystery ‘Ruby’ recounts two interconnected stories involving a red 1934 Austin Seven automobile called Ruby. Thompson displayed his cleverness and artistic virtuosity once again in ‘How to Live Forever’.
In 1995, Colin Thompson moved from the Outer Hebrides to Sydney, Australia, and has since collaborated with various Australian artists on works such as Sailing Home, which joins his text with Matt Otley’s illustrations. Till the end of the 1990s, Thompson published two more books, ‘Paradise Garden’, ‘Future Eden: A Brief History of Next Time’.
The recent volumes by Colin Thompson include ‘The Second Forever’, a picture book in collaboration with an illustrator Sarah Davis ‘Fearless: Sons and Daughter’, and the first volume from Watch This Space series, ‘Out to Launch’.
(Book lovers of all ages can take an enchanted journey thr...)
1995(An ingenious picture book to pore over, again and again, ...)
2006(Dreams, imagination, growing up and a very special relati...)
2001(When Jeremy goes home to live with George and his grandmo...)
2008(When a seafaring grandfather returns home for the last ti...)
1993(Barry came to save the world but has been stuck down the ...)
2011(The first volume from an off-the-planet Watch This Space ...)
2015(Another classic picture book by the legendary Colin Thomp...)
1998(The hilarious new picture book from award-winning author ...)
2015(Save the world but live forever. Peter and Festival have ...)
2012Colin Thompson is a committed supporter of the environment.
Quotations:
"I have always believed in the magic of childhood and think that if you get your life right that magic should never end. I feel that if a children’s book cannot be enjoyed properly by adults there is something wrong with either the book or the adult reading it."
"I like people who could draw much better than I could."
Colin Thompson’s surname at birth was Willment. His mother changed it after she remarried in 1953.
Colin Thompson was married twice. His second wife became a librarian named Anne on April 9, 1999. The family produced two children, Hannah and Alice.
Thompson’s daughter from the first marriage is named Charlotte.