About Tohby Riddle

Tohby Riddle is an award-winning writer, illustrator, cartoonist, designer and sometime editor based in Sydney, Australia. He has written and illustrated numerous well-loved picture books; written a novel (published as a young adult book); was the cartoonist for Good Weekend (the Saturday magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age) for nearly ten years; and is a former editor of the The School Magazine, a literary magazine for children published by the NSW Department of Education since 1916.

Some backstory

Tohby was born in Sydney, Australia, and has lived there since.
His early years were spent at a Steiner school where a love of
making things and making things up (mainly with drawings and
words) flourished.

After high school, Tohby went to Sydney College of the Arts where
he majored in painting and average guitar playing. After graduating
he worked in a number of jobs that usually involved carrying things
larger than himself. All the while he was unsure what kind of art
he wanted to make. He loved illustrated books and cartoons but it
never occurred to him that he could do such things. One night a
friend said, "Let's make a children's story!" They did, and it was not
very good, but it gave Tohby ideas …

Then Tohby got another job. He still had to carry things but it was in
a small but growing publishing house. He was mailing clerk at what
was then Pan Books Australia. This was a great education for him.
Apart from knowing what it would cost to send a non-standard letter,
weighing over 500 grams, to Queensland, he saw first-hand how a
publishing house worked. He also saw what manuscript submissions
looked like and what rejections slips looked like. And his kind
employers introduced him to visiting authors (from Jackie Collins to
Oliver Sacks) and included him in many of the publisher's functions
and book launches.

The experience served him well when later he decided to try another
picture book. (He had also read a terriffic book on the art of Maurice
Sendak that showed in some detail how Sendak made up Where the
Wild Things Are.) Knowing he had a better chance of illustrating a
book if he wrote it himself, Tohby produced a mock up of a story called
Careful with that Ball, Eugene! It became his first book.

The year it was released Tohby began studying architecture at The
University of Sydney. He found this to be an excellent all-round
education in art, design, and the making of three-dimensional objects.
Interestingly, this course has a history of producing not just architects,
but cartoonists, scriptwriters, film directors, comedians, set designers
and art directors.

Indeed, interest from publishers and a desire to keep trying out ideas
for picture books – and by now cartoons – led Tohby to make the
difficult choice between practising architecture or becoming a
dedicatedartist and writer. He chose the latter, but his architecture
training continues to serve him well – his ideas, he believes, have to be
well-constructed and not leak!

Since that time, Tohby has produced a number of books, cartoons and
illustrations. Some of the books have been published internationally,
some have received awards, and one (The Great Escape from City Zoo)
had the feature film rights to it bought by a Hollywood studio.

Luckily, considering Australia's wealth of talented cartoonists, Tohby's
cartoons found a regular home in the newspapers.Tohby is also lucky
he didn't listen to the first newspaper art director he visited. After looking
at Tohby's portfolio, he politely suggested Tohby think of another career.
Tohby didn't necessarily disagree with the art director's advice – he just
couldn't think of another career. So he tried to do better work.

Tohby has also visited schools, universities and writers' festivals
across Australia to talk about his work and other things that come
to mind, and has spent a number of years as an editor. He still believes
that if you stick at something long enough, perhaps even decades,
you could become an overnight success.

A brief profile of Tohby Riddle in words and pictures …

Interviews, articles, papers, links …

"Tohby Riddle" – Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum interview with Tohby Riddle (January 2011)

"Attic Dreaming" – Sun Herald feature on Tohby Riddle (October 2008)

Writers Talk 2009 – filmed in-depth interviews with various authors, including Tohby Riddle, who were part of the 2009 Sydney Writers Festival.This extensive resource which includes Teachers' Notes, links and other information was created by the NSW Department of Education's Centre for Learning Innovation.

"Writing for Everyone" – an article by Tohby Riddle for Reading Time (Vol.53 No 4, November 2009), about writing his novel, The Lucky Ones, after doing picture books and boardbooks

"Know the Author/Illustrator: Tohby Riddle" – a feature article on Tohby Riddle by author James Roy for Magpies (Vol. 24, No 4, September 2009). This link is an extract.

Bottersnikes and Other Lost Things: A Celebration of Australian Illustrated Children's Books – A richly illustrated hardcover book (left) on Australian children's book illustration through the decades. Published in 2009, a spread (p. 164-5) is dedicated to Tohby Riddle's picture book The Great Escape from City Zoo.

"Children's Picture Books by Tohby Riddle" – an online article by Susan Whelan which focuses on The Royal Guest, The Singing Hat and Nobody Owns the Moon

About Making Picture Books – an interview with Tohby Riddle

Making Picture Books Libby Gleeson's excellent book on the subject of making picture books. Includes comments by a number of picture book creators, including Tohby Riddle.

"Every Picture Tells a Story" – Sunday Age feature on Tohby Riddle

"Colour Story" – an article by Tohby Riddle, first published in Melbourne's
The Age newspaper, 1998

"Interview with Tohby Riddle" – an extensive interview and article by
Catherine Mah

Tony Bones Entertainment – creators and performers of musical
productions of The Singing Hat, Irving the Magician and Nobody Owns the Moon

Something about the Author (SATA) biography

Academia

For those interested in the theoretical side of picture book
discussions, Routledge, New York (and UK) have published Postmodern
Picturebooks, edited by Lawrence R. Sipe and Sylvia Pantaleo.
Chapter 6, "'They Are Always Surprised at What People Throw Away':
Glocal Postmodernism in Australian Picture Books" features a
presentation by John Stephens which focuses on Tohby Riddle's
The Great Escape from City Zoo and The Tip at the End of the Street
and Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing (which actually features a visual
reference to The Great Escape from City Zoo.)

A paper written by Cheryl Macmillan and titled "Metafiction and Humour
in The Great Escape from City Zoo" can be found in Papers: Explorations
into Children's Literature, Volume 10, Number 2, August 2000.

"Trash Aesthetics and Utopian Memory"The Tip at the End of the Street
[Tohby Riddle] and The Lost Thing [Shaun Tan] by Kerry Mallan, Bookbird, 2005.

The Royal Guest is cited in "The End of Empire? Colonial and Postcolonial Journeys in Children's Books" Children's Literature - Volume 29, 2001, pp. 196-218

More soon …

Some Feedback

After reading Nobody Owns The Moon once I  read it a second time.  The second time I read the illustrations as well.  The third time I read it I read it aloud.  I find Nobody Owns The Moon a lovely deep well.  I felt better for having read it.  After this email I will read it again.  Thank you. 
– Dianne

I just wanted to tell you that I think 'Nobody Owns The Moon' is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen and read ... I have a three year old daughter, and the book gives us so much ... I can't tell you how happy I am that I finally found The Special Book - the book she and I will read together for years, and one day she will read to her bubs too.
– Pete

Yesterday I took out a copy of Nobody Owns the Moon from the library to read to my son. I haven't stopped thinking about the book since. Your story is a rare treat. A small truth that points to a large truth, about what it is to be human. In doing so it achieves the the highest aim for any work of art.
– CW

Keep up the great work. It is greatly appreciated.
– Craig

Just wanted to say I love your work. My fridge is a growing collection of Tohby whimsy.
– Matt

Just saw your stuff on shoebox. It made me happy and smiley and sunny, I like it.
– Emily

Just bought What's the Big Idea?. Love it. I have an interest in teaching Philosophy for Children through which we try to identify the 'big ideas'. Some useful stimulus material in your book.
– Rosie

Thank you for your humbly witty wordplay and gentle illustrations.Your tiny cartoon
is my only reason to open the Good Weekend.
– Bec

I loved the question mark balloon ["? Balloon" Good Weekend, 26 June 2004]
– thank you for daring to think and waking me up at least once a week.
– John

I've wanted to get a copy of The Royal Guest for years! I saw it in a bookshop years
ago, but I felt a bit odd buying myself a children's book. Since then I've looked
everywhere for it I'm delighted that there might be a possibility of getting it through
your website.
– Kathy

I just loved "Little Caterpillar" in Good Weekend Sept. 23 [2006].
– Noelene

Love your work! I was given your book What's the Big Idea? for Christmas and
loved it. When is your next one coming out?
– Kay

The Great Escape from City Zoo will always be the picture book that re-opened my
eyes to the visual dimension – up to now the only picture books that made me pay
any attention to the drawings were the Dr Suess books I grew up on.
– Christa

The Singing Hat is fantastic. We have analysed it inside out, upside down and
back to front and come up with many possibilities as to hidden and not so hidden
meanings. I am sure it will be a winner in any classroom I take it into. Thanks again.
– Rebecca

I just want to let you know I absolutely love your weekly cartoons in SMH's
Good Weekend mag. I find your cartoons inspirational & insightful. Congrats on
your success and long may it continue.
– Nikki

Have enjoyed your book [What’s the Big Idea?] immensely. Have purchased
two copies as presents.
– Brenda

I have just again read The Tip at the End of the Street to my son. This is
our seventh year of reading the book, neither of us grow tired of it. Your work
and art is a credit to Australian authors and illustrators. People like you will continue
to put Australia on the map in the field of literature and art. Keep up the terrific work.
– Bruce

Love your work. You're the best.
– Phillipa

I just have to tell you how much I love The Great Escape from City Zoo. I've been
teaching various children's literature courses for about 5 years now, and it's always
such a pleasure to introduce students to that particular book! It's such a creative
departure from conventional picture books, which I think is what makes people
respond to it so positively. Good luck with all your work in the future.
– Victoria

Thanks for bringing me perplexing joy on Saturday mornings in the Good Weekend.
– Zanin

The cartoons are great. Thank you for the smiles!
– Lucy

Keep on with your wonderful work!
– Maryanne