Background

Born in Romford, England, on December 22, 1952, Inkpen grew up in a “very suburban estate with white concrete roads all named after Scottish rivers”, as the writer-illustrator told Stephanie Nettell in a Books for Keeps article. Inkpen’s father was a store manager and later a warehouse manager, and Inkpen grew up with a brother two years older and a sister three years younger.

Education

Inkpen was educated at Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park.

Career

As was noted in an article, “English and Art marched side by side in Mick’s affections throughout the Royal Liberty School, an old-fashioned grammar school that assumed most of its pupils would go to university." Such were Inkpen’s plans, as well, but a job taken while he was waiting to study English became a turning point in his life. An older friend from Romford, Nick Butterworth, had set up a graphic design studio, and Inkpen was offered a temporary job there. Inkpen told Nettell that those years at the design studio were “marvelous for learning all the stuff that usually takes so long."

Initially, times were tough, for the firm was still building a client base and the partners were anything but good businessmen. Soon, however, things began to pick up. At age twenty-one, Inkpen continued working at design, illustrating everything from bra packages to banking cartoons. Soon Butterworth and he were turning their hands to children’s books, creating a series based on a Sunday Express cartoon strip about a gang of mice that live in a deserted railway station called Upney Junction. There was also a brief excursion into television, with Inkpen writing “thirty or so stories about a pink haired punk character called Steve which Nick [Butterworth] narrated and illustrated live on camera,” Inkpen recalled.

In addition to the Upney Junction mice books, Inkpen created a number of popular children’s titles with Butterworth, including Just like Jasper, Jasper's Beanstalk, and Nice and Nasty. By 1986, however, he was ready to have a go at writing and illustrating his own books. One of Inkpen’s early titles was One Bear at Bedtime, a counting book in which, according to Booklist’s Barbara Elleman, “a young boy’s imagination takes flight as he readies for bed.”

In The Blue Balloon, Inkpen indulged his own affection for balloons as “wonderful graphic objects with an endless list of properties,” according to Nettell, by telling the story of a dog who brings home a soggy blue balloon. In this fold-out book, the balloon turns out to have wonderful form-changing powers that delight the dog’s young owner. Inkpen’s first award-winning title was Threadbear, an appropriate name for the patched-up old teddy bear protagonist of the story. Threadbear decides to find Santa Claus in hopes of getting the squeaker in his stomach repaired.

Perhaps Inkpen’s most popular creation to date has been the young dog, Kipper, in his many incarnations. The initial title, Kipper, told the story of a puppy who has grown tired of his old blanket and basket and decides to search among the animals outdoors for a new place to sleep. Finally, after looking unsuccessfully, he figures that his old basket and blanket were best after all.

Inkpen has followed the original Kipper title with a batch of sequels, and his playful pup has even inspired a TV series in England. In Kipper’s Toybox, the little dog’s life changes when he discovers why there is a hole in his toybox. Dumping out the toys, he counts one too many; putting them back in the box there are two too many noses. Inkpen uses the clever device of a pair of mice to develop a subtle counting book. In Nothing, Inkpen explores the themes of loneliness and loss. Toby, an old stuffed cat, forgets his name and who he is because he has been separated from his owners for so many years.

Achievements

• Mick Inkpen is a British graphic artist-turned-children’s book writer and illustrator best known for such award-winning titles as "Kipper", "Threadbear", and "Penguin Small." Mick is one of the most popular author/illustrators in the world, his stories have been translated into over twenty different languages and his books have sold over 4 million copies. Kipper won a BAFTA for best animated children's film in 1998, and Kipper's A to Z won the silver medal in the 2001 Smarties Prize.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Hole in the Zoo

    (From the bestselling team behind Kipper, I Will Love You ...)

    2019
  • Animal Tales

    (A fabulous collection of stories for children aged 5 and ...)

    2006
  • I Will Love You Anyway

    (The author of the beloved Kipper series teams up with his...)

    2016
  • Lullabyhullaballoo

    (With a host of noisy fairytale characters and a fold-out ...)

    2017
  • This troll, that troll

    (Trusting trolls abound in this colorful collection, featu...)

    1993
  • Wibbly Pig Likes Playing

    (Wibbly Pig loves to make games out of cushions and chairs...)

    2010
  • Kipper's A to Z: An Alphabet Adventure

    (Kipper and Arnold are on an alphabet adventure! What can ...)

    2001
  • Hide Me, Kipper

    (Cuddle up with Kipper! This playful and funny Kipper stor...)

    2016
  • The Mick Inkpen Treasury

    (Mick Inkpen is a household name; his books are loved and ...)

    2003
  • Penguin Small

    (Penguin Small is a classic story by Mick Inkpen with a su...)

    2016
  • Nothing

    (A little creature lies forgotten in the attic, not even k...)

    1995
  • Stories Jesus Told

    (This omnibus edition includes eight of Jesus' best loved ...)

    2005
  • Threadbear

    (There is one thing that has always been wrong with Thread...)

    2016
  • The Blue Balloon

    (Kipper the dog has found a soggy blue balloon in the gard...)

    2019

Views

For Inkpen, “childhood is a rich seam”, and his readers hope he continues mining it.

Connections

Mick Inkpen married a woman named Deborah in 1973. They have two children - Simon and Chloe.

Spouse:

Deborah Inkpen

Son:

Simon Inkpen

Daughter:

Chloe Inkpen

Friend:

Nick Butterworth