Snowy Bear

Tony Mitton has been reading and writing since he was 9. He began writing specifically for children around the age of 40 while still working as a primary school and special needs teacher. He now works full-time as a writer and sometimes performs his poems in schools and libraries and occasionally at other venues, mainly in the UK. His main published work consists of solo collections of lyric and narrative poetry, and verse picture books illustrated by a range of illustrators. His picture books include Down by the Cool of the Pool (with Guy Parker-Rees) and The Somethingosaur (with Russell Ayto). He was recently contracted to rewrite the English verse texts for Dick Bruna’s Miffy series of preschool books.

I grew up in Bangor, Northern Ireland and moved to England for art college in Liverpool, then London. I did a lot of formal studying, and learned a huge amount during that time, but I think my path towards a career in picture books began with my love of comics and cartoons, particularly “Peanuts”, the creation of my hero, the great Charles M. Schulz. ​ Before I became a full-time illustrator and writer, I did many other jobs including teaching English, working in a bookshop and designing Christmas and Halloween signage for supermarkets! ​ I work with publishers in the UK and around the world including Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster, Little Tiger Press, Oxford University Press and Hinkler. ​ My books have been published in Spanish (Castillian and Catalan), German, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, French, Finnish, Romanian, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Italian and this year, for the first time, in Scots Gaelic, Welsh and Hebrew!