Paul Geraghty (born 3 May 1959, in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

) is a British based

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

of children's

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 also writes

teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with ...

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

and won the Young Africa Award for his first novel ''Pig''.

Background

His master read '' Fine Arts and English'' at Natal University, South Africa and holds a Higher Diploma in Education. After teaching for two years in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

he took a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. Copywriting is aimed at selling products or services. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to incre ...

's job in advertising. There he met John Bush, who would later go on to collaborate with him on three picture books. Since 1986 he has lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, UK. Geraghty’s picture books typically centre on wildlife/environmental themes, either treated in a highly realistic manner, rich in detail, or irreverently stylised, usually illustrated in watercolour. Translated into over 20 languages internationally, his work has won various awards, including the Red House Children's Book Award for Solo in 1996. In 2008, he translated the ancient Indian ethical treatise of the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

into Fijian. A frequent lecturer and live illustrator on the literary circuit, he is renowned for his inspirational, if eccentric style with audiences of all ages. He is also a

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

and extensive traveller.

Picture books

:''(Illustrated in watercolour, unless otherwise stated)'' * The Giraffe who Got in a Knot ''(Written by John Bush)'' (1987) * The Cross-with-us Rhinoceros ''(Written by John Bush)'' (1988) * Over the Steamy Swamp (1988) * The Great Knitting Needle Hunt (1989) * The Bungle in the Jungle ''(Written by John Bush)'' (1989) * What on Earth was That? (1990) * Look out, Patrick! (1990) * Slobcat (1991) * Monty’s Journey (1992) * The Great Green Forest (1992) * The Hunter (1994) * Solo (1995) * The Wonderful Journey ''(Oil on canvas)'' (1999) * Tortuga (2000) * The Hoppameleon (2001) * Dinosaur in Danger (2004) * Rotten & Rascal (The Two Terrible Pterosaur Twins) (Mixed media illustrations) (2006) * Help Me! (2010)

Novels

* Pig (1988) * Tina Come Home (1991)

References

External links

Paul Geraghty website

Video: Paul Geraghty discusses changes and inspirations

Illustration from Dinosaur in Danger

Illustration from The Hunter

A Paul Geraghty Oil Painting commissioned by the military

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geraghty, Paul University of Natal alumni 1959 births Living people South African children's writers South African children's book illustrators Tamil–Fijian translators Translators of the Tirukkural into Fijian 21st-century British translators Tirukkural translators South African translators