Rob Biddulph is a British children's author and illustrator.

Early life

Biddulph was born on 12 October 1972 in Barnet, London. He attended

Dame Alice Owen's School Dame Alice Owen's School (DAOS, or simply Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's) is an 11–18 co-educational, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the Dame Al ...

. He graduated with a BA(Hons) degree in Visual Communication and Design from

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

in 1994.

Career

Before becoming an author and illustrator, he worked as an art director for '' The Observer Magazine'', ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', '' Uncut'', ''

SKY Magazine Sky Magazine (or 'Sky Mag') was a magazine distributed to subscribers of the BSkyB satellite service Sky Digital. Availability The magazine was available to subscribers of the Variety Pack or all packs of entertainment. Content The magazine ...

'' and ''

Just Seventeen ''Just Seventeen'', often referred to as ''J-17'', was a fortnightly magazine aimed at teenage girls, published by Emap from October 1983 to April 2004. A special preview edition was given away free with sister magazine ''Smash Hits'' on 13 Oct ...

''. In 2014, he published his first picture book, ''Blown Away'', about an intrepid blue penguin. In 2015, he won the

Waterstones Children's Book Prize The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is the ...

for ''Blown Away'', which was the second picture book to win the prize. Several of his picture books have featured on the BBC television series CBeebies Bedtime Stories. ''Odd Dog Out'' was read by Tom Hardy in 2017, ''Blown Away'' was read by

Mark Bonnar Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in ''Guilt (British TV series), Guilt'', Duncan Hunter in ''Shetland (TV series), Shetland'', Bruno Jenkins in ''Casualty (TV series), Casualty'', ...

in 2017, ''GRRRRR!'' was read by

Chris Kamara Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional footballer and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022. As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. He joi ...

in 2019, ''Show and Tell'' was read by

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, radio DJ and podcaster. He gained fame through his association with the production trio Stock Aitken Waterman, releasing the 1987 album ''Whenever You Need Somebody'', which sol ...

in 2019, ''An Odd Dog Christmas'' was read by Hardy in 2021, and ''Gigantic'' was read by

Cody Rhodes Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes (born June 30, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. As of April 2022, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. He is also known for co-fou ...

in 2025. In 2021, he published his first middle-grade book, ''Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City''. Biddulph was the official

World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright ...

illustrator between 2019 and 2021 and was named Illustrator of the Year at the

British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

(the Nibbies) in May 2025.

Draw with Rob

In March 2020, Biddulph began uploading twice-weekly draw-along videos to help children looking for things to keep them occupied whilst stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The videos received millions of views worldwide, and on 20 May 2020 Biddulph broke the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the largest ever online art class when 45,611 households joined him in drawing a blue whale via his YouTube channel. In the process, over £50,000 was raised for charity. Biddulph was named as a UK Point of Light by

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

, the Prime Minister, who said "As our country observed the toughest restrictions in living memory, you inspired the creative spirit of the nation with millions of families tuning in to your #DrawWithRob series and spending special time together honing their artistic skills."

Publications

*''Blown Away'', 2014 *''GRRRRR!'', 2015 *''Odd Dog Out'', 2016 *Sunk!, 2017 *''Kevin'', 2017 *''Dinosaur Juniors: Happy Hatchday'', 2018 *''Dinosaur Juniors: Give Peas a Chance'', 2018 *''Dinosaur Juniors: Wide Awake'', 2019 *''Show and Tell'', 2019 *''Dog Gone, 2020'' *''An Odd Dog Christmas'', 2021 *''The Blue-footed Booby'', 2022 * ''Gigantic'', 2023 *''Charlie McGrew & the Horse That He Drew'', 2024 *''I Follow the Fox'', 2024 *''Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City'', 2021 *''Peanut Jones and the Twelve Portals'', 2022 *''Peanut Jones and the End of the Rainbow'', 2023 *The ''Draw with Rob'' series, 2020– *The ''My First Draw with Rob'' series, 2023–

Collaborations

*The ''Flat Stanley'' series, 2017-2018, written by Jeff Brown *The ''Radio Boy'' series, 2017-2018, written by Christian O'Connell *''The Adventures of Parsley the Lion'', 2020, written by

Michael Bond Thomas Michael Bond (13 January 1926 – 27 June 2017) was an English author. He is best known for a series of children's books featuring the character of Paddington Bear. More than 35 million books in the series have been sold worldwide, ...

*''The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates'', 2020, written by

Jenny Pearson Jenny Pearson is a British teacher and children's author. She is best known for her books ''The Super'' ''Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates'' (2020) and ''The Incredible Record Smashers'' (2021). Early life Pearson is from Salisbury. She at ...

*The ''Furry Purry Beancat'' series, 2020, written by

Philip Ardagh Philip Ardagh is an English children's author, primarily known for the Eddie Dickens series of books. He has written more than 100 books including adult fiction and children's non-fiction. During 2004 and 2005 Ardagh collaborated with Sir P ...

Awards and recognitions

* 2015:

, winner (''Blown Away'') * 2015:

, Best Illustrated Book, winner (''Blown Away'') * 2015:

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 ...

, nominated (''Blown Away'') * 2015: Independent Booksellers Book Award, shortlisted (''Blown Away'') * 2016:

, nominated (''GRRRRR!'') * 2016: Independent Booksellers Book Award, shortlisted (''GRRRRR!'') * 2017: UKLA Student Shadower's Book Award, winner (''Odd Dog Out'') * 2017: BSC Festival of Literature Picture Book Award, winner (''Odd Dog Out'') * 2017:

Oscar's Book Prize Oscar's Book Prize is a British children's book prize awarded annually to a book for pre-school age children, which was first published in the UK during the previous calendar year. The £5,000 prize is supported by the London Evening Standard and ...

, shortlisted (''Odd Dog Out'') * 2017: Independent Booksellers Book Award, shortlisted (''Odd Dog Out'') * 2017: Sheffield Children's Book Award, shortlisted (''Odd Dog Out'') * 2018:

, nominated (''Sunk!'') * 2018:

, shortlisted (''Sunk!'') * 2018: The People's Book Prize, shortlisted (''Sunk!'') * 2018:

, nominated (''Kevin'') * 2018: BSC Festival of Literature Picture Book Award, shortlisted (''Kevin'') * 2018: Independent Booksellers Book Award, shortlisted (''Kevin'') * 2018: Junior Magazine Design Awards, Gold, winner (''Dinosaur Juniors: Happy Hatchday'') * 2019:

, nominated (''Dinosaur Juniors: Give Peas a Chance'') * 2019: BSC Festival of Literature Picture Book Award, shortlisted (''Show and Tell'') * 2020: UK Point of Light, winner * 2020: Sainsbury's Children's Book Award, winner (''Draw With Rob'') * 2020: Sheffield Children's Book Award, winner (''Show and Tell'') * 2021:

, shortlisted (''Draw With Rob'') * 2021: BSC Festival of Literature Picture Book Award, shortlisted (''Dog Gone'') * 2022: Yoto Carnegie Illustration Medal, nominated (''The Blue-footed Booby'') * 2023: Fantastic Book Award, Lancashire School Library Service, winner (''Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City'') * 2023: FCBG Children's Book Award, nominated (''The Blue-Footed Booby'') * 2023: BSC Festival of Literature Picture Book Award, shortlisted (''The Blue-Footed Booby'') * 2023: Cover of the Year, The Week Junior Book Awards, winner (''Peanut Jones and the Twelve Portals'') * 2024: Books For Topics Early Readers Book of the Year, winner (Gigantic) * 2024:

, shortlisted (''Gigantic'') * 2024: Sheffield Children's Book Award, winner, picture book category (''Gigantic'') * 2024: FCBG Children's Book Award, winner (''Gigantic'') * 2024: Laugh-Out-Loud Award, shortlisted (''The Blue-Footed Booby'') * 2024: Picture Book of the Year, The Week Junior Book Awards, highly commended (''Gigantic'') * 2025: Illustrator of the Year, The British Book Awards, winner * 2025: Brilliant Book Award, Lancashire School Library Service, winner (''Gigantic'')

Personal life

Biddulph is married with three daughters, and lives in London. He has a cocker spaniel called Ringo. He is a fan of

Arsenal FC The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

References

External links

*
Draw With Rob
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biddulph, Rob Living people 21st-century British novelists British children's writers 1972 births