Alan Marks
Alan was born in London and spent his early years in the docklands but much prefers living in the country. He decided that he wanted to be an illustrator from an early age, really because he loves the magic of the drawn line but not least of all because it meant that he wouldn’t have to go out to work. He attended Medway College of Art & Design and had three great years at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham; no one has ever asked but he got a 1st class honours degree.
Alan has worked as a freelance illustrator since leaving college in 1980. His first children’s book ‘Storm’ by Kevin Crossley-Holland, won the Carnegie Medal and ‘Thomas and the Tinners’ by Jill Paton Walsh won the 6 to 8 years category of the Smarties Prize. In 2003 he won the Premio Marsili Award for non-fiction from the Musei di Palazzo Poggi in Bologna. More recent prizes include a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor award in the USA.
More recently I have worked with The Folio Society on ‘War Horse’; Virago on Nina Bawden Stories; The Bodleian on ‘The Princess Who Hid in a Tree’; Charlesbridge Publishing USA on ‘Daring Dozen’ and ‘Rare and Blue’ and Candlewick Publishing USA on ‘The Fog Catcher’s Daughter‘.
Published
Adventures of Robin Hood; Illustrated Robin Hood / Daring Dozen / Family Pack / Hip-Pocket Papa / Le Cavelier Tempete / Le Jardin Secret; Robin Hood (Robin des Bois) (published in France by Editions Usborne) / Nina Bawden Stories / P.I. / Rare and Blue / Rickie and Henri / S.A. David Copperfield (Alba Editorial) / The Fog Catcher’s Daughter / The Princess Who Hid in a Tree / The Shepherd Girl of Bethlehem / UK Storm / War Horse / Waiting for Ice / White Fang / Wuthering Heights
Publishers
Barrington Stoke / Candlewick Publishing USA / Charlesbridge Publishing USA / Egmont / Farrah Straus / Franklin Watts / Giroux USA / Harcourt Education / Lion Hudson / Minedition / Penguin USA / North-South Books (NordSüd) / Orion / OUP / Scholastic Books / Simon and Schuster / The Folio Society / The Bodleian / Usborne Publishing / Virago
