Brian Selznick
RISD BFA '88 [Illustration]
Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator and New York Times
bestselling author Brian Selznick graduated from the Rhode Island
School of Design with the intention of becoming a set designer for the
theatre. However, after spending three years selling books and painting
windows for a children's bookstore in Manhattan, he was inspired to
create children's books of his own. His books have received many awards
and distinctions, including a Caldecott Honor for THE DINOSAURS OF
WATERHOUSE HAWKINS and a Robert F. Sibert Honor for WHEN MARIAN SANG.
Brian Selznick travels extensively to work on his books. He
spent six months in Washington D.C. for AMELIA AND ELEANOR GO FOR A
RIDE and he traveled to England for THE DINOSAURS OF WATERHOUSE
HAWKINS. More recently, Brian visited Walt Whitman's childhood home in
West Hills, New York for WALT WHITMAN: Words for America.
His most recent work is the groundbreaking title, THE
INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET. Combining elements of picture book, graphic
novel, and film, he creates an entirely new reading experience.
"Several years ago, I read a review of a book called EDISON'S EVE: A
Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life by Gaby Wood," says
Selznick. "The review mentioned the true story of a collection of
elaborate mechanical windup figures (known as automata), which had once
been owned and loved by a great French film director named George
Méliès. These amazing machines were eventually donated by Méliès to a
museum in Paris, but the collection was neglected in a damp attic and
eventually had to be thrown away. I imagined a boy finding these
broken, rusted machines, and thus Hugo and his story were born."
Brian Selznick lives in Brooklyn, New York and San Diego, and California.
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