Gregory John Rogers (19 June 1957 – 1 May 2013) was an illustrator and writer of

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

, especially

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

. He was the first

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

to win the annual

Kate Greenaway Medal The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

from the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2002 as a merger of th ...

, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. The book was ''Way Home'' by the Australian writer Libby Hathorn, published in the U.K. by Andersen Press in 1994. In the unnamed city, a boy makes his way home at night and adopts a stray cat en route. The "picture book for older readers" was controversial on grounds both that it was "hardboiled" and that it "romanticised the plight of the homeless"."Libby Hathorn"
AUSTLIT (austlit.edu.au). Retrieved 2015-03-16.

Life and career

Rogers was born on 19 June 1957, in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

to Marie Bohlscheid and Rex Rogers and grew up in Coorparoo. He studied at the Queensland College of Art (fine art) and worked as a

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

er before taking up freelance illustration in 1987. Rogers has illustrated many books including Margaret Card's ''Aunty Mary's Dead Goat'', Ian Trevaskis's ''The Postman Race'', Gary Crew's ''Tracks'' and ''Lucy's Bay'', Libby Hathorn's ''Way Home'', and Nigel Gray's ''Running Away From Home''. Beside the Greenaway Medal, ''Way Home'' also won a Parents' Choice Award in the U.S. and was shortlisted for the APBA book design awards. Nevertheless, his most widely held work in

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

participating libraries is the first book he both wrote and illustrated, ''The Boy, the Bear, the Baron, and the Bard''. The

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

was published by

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

of Australia in 2004 and by Roaring Brook Press that same year in the U.S."Formats and Editions of The boy, the bear, the baron, the bard"
WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-08-30. It features a timeslip to Shakespeare's London by a boy who follows a soccer ball from Shakespeare's Globe, the modern reconstruction, to the original

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a Theater (structure), theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames, by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was ...

. With ''Midsummer Knight'' (2006) and ''The Hero of Little Street'' (2009) it constitutes a "wordless picture book series" that ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' calls his work best known in the U.S. Rogers played several musical instruments—the cornetto, recorder, and the

baroque guitar The Baroque guitar (–1750) is a string instrument with five Course (music), courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string. History The Baroque guitar replaced the lute as ...

—performing music of the 16th and 17th centuries. He collected "CDs, antiques, books, and anything that might attract dust". He was also an avid collector of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

items. Rogers died 1 May 2013 in Brisbane from

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

Books

Solo works

According to ''Publishers Weekly'', Rogers was "best known in he U.S.for his sequence of three wordless picture books". * ''The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard'' (

Crows Nest, New South Wales Crows Nest is a suburb on the lower North Shore (Sydney), North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is also part of the North Sydney region, 5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Austr ...

, 2004) * ''Midsummer Knight'' (2006) * ''The Hero of Little Street'' (2009) * ''Omar the Strongman'', text and illustrations (Scholastic Press, 2013),

As illustrator

* ''Enter Bob Dickinson'' (1988) by Kay Arthur * ''Grandma's Memories'' (1989) by Virginia King * ''Zoe At The Fancy Dress Ball'' (1990) by Susan Reid * ''Lucy Meets A Dragon'' (1990) by Susan Reid * ''Aunty Mary's Dead Goat'' (1990) by Margaret Card * ''The Postman's Race'' (1991) by Ian Trevaskis * ''Space Travellers'' (1992) by Margaret Wild * ''Tracks'' (1992) by Gary Crew * ''Lucy's Bay'' (1992) by Gary Crew * ''Great Grandpa'' (1994) by Susan McQuade * ''Way Home'' (Andersen, 1994) by Libby Hathorn * ''The Bent-Back Bridge'' (1995) by Gary Crew * ''Running Away From Home'' (1996) by Nigel Gray * ''The Island'' (1996) by Michael O'Hara * ''What Goes With Toes?'' (1996) by Jeri Kroll * ''Beyond The Dusk'' (2000) by Victor Kelleher * ''The Platypus'' (2000) by Jo Brice * ''The Gift'' (2000) by Libby Hathorn * ''Princess Max'' (2001) by Laurie Stiller * ''The Rainbow'' (2001) by Gary Crew * ''Theseus and the Minotaur'' (2002) by Janeen Brian * ''Tiddalick the Thirsty Frog'' (2003) by Mark Carthew * ''The Brothers Grim'' (2004) by Janeen Brian * ''It's True! Fashion Can Be Fatal'' (2004) by Susan Green * ''Flitterwig'' (2009) by Edrei Cullen * ''Clearheart'' (2009) by Edrei Cullen * ''Scatterbungle'' (2011) by Edrei Cullen

References

External links