Marjory Gardner

Marjory was born in Malaysia, where she lived in a big house surrounded by jungle (inhabited by monkeys, snakes and little deer) and went to primary school only in the morning. (There were no classes in the afternoon because it was too hot.)

Her favourite activity was drawing, and this is still the case today. Marjory moved to Australia with her family in 1968, and after high school completed a course in Graphic Design at the Royal Institute of Technology, Melbourne. She worked in various design studios before deciding to become a freelance children's book illustrator. She has illustrated a wide range of educational and trade books and magazines, published in Australia and Internationally. Her work is distinctive for its humour, rainbow colours and appealing characters.

Marjory enjoys speaking to children at schools and libraries in the city and country. A memorable week was spent touring schools in the Northern Territory, but she equally loves once-off workshops for kids in the inner city. Her sessions are a combination of education (using her folio of work to demonstrate the stages between first rough sketches and printed book) and inspiration (via a series of challenging but fun drawing exercises). Complexity varies according to age level, from prep to upper primary.

Some of Marjory's titles include:

• The Playschool Blue Book (ABC Books)
• Old Mother Hubbard (ABC Books)
• Two Snakes (Horwitz Martin)
• Wilbur the Weather Watcher (Mimosa)
• My Cat Muffin (Scholastic)
• Trevor in TV Land (Macmillan Education)
• What Do You Want to Do? (McGraw Hill)
• Illustrations for "Comet" magazine (Pearson)
• One Little Bunny by Emma Adam (Brolly Books)
• Three Little Ducks by Emma Adam (Brolly Books)
• Going for Keeps by Paul Collins (Rigby)
• Riley's Rocket by Bill Condon (Rigby)
• Grandma's Place by James Stead (Windy Hollow Books)