Nisha Rathode (Editor)

Jan Pieńkowski

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Occupation
  
Writer, illustrator

Name
  
Jan Pienkowski

Education
  
King\'s College, Cambridge

Nationality
  
Polish, British

Role
  
Author

Awards
  
Kate Greenaway Medal

The "Bejewelled Butterflies - The Metamorphosis of Morpho", an illustration by Jan Pieńkowski.
Born
  
Jan Michal Pienkowski8 August 1936Warsaw, Poland (
1936-08-08
)

Genre
  
Children\'s literature, picture books, movable books

Notable works
  
Meg and MogPop-up books

Notable awards
  
Kate Greenaway Medal1971, 1979

Spouse
  
David Walser (2005–present)

Books
  
Haunted house, Botticelli\'s bed & breakfast, ABC dinosaurs, Meg Goes to Bed, Little Monsters

Similar People
  
Helen Nicoll, Joan Aiken, David Wood, Neil Griffiths, Angela Shelf Medearis

Jan pienkowski s haunted house playthrough part 1


Jan Michał Pieńkowski (born 8 August 1936) is a Polish-British author of children's books—as illustrator, as writer, and as designer of movable books. He has also designed for the theatre. For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee in 1982 and again in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books.

Contents

"The Thousand Nights and One Night", an illustration by Jan Pieńkowski.

WorldCat reports that Pieńkowski's work most widely held in participating libraries is Christmas, the King James Version (1984; US ISBN 0394869230), a 24-page picture book that "[u]ses the words of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew to present the story of the birth of Jesus."

An illustration from "The Thousand Nights and One Night" by Jan Pieńkowski.

Stop motion pop up book haunted house by jan pienkowski


Biography

Jan Pieńkowski smiling, with a beard and mustache, and wearing a black coat over white long sleeves.

Jan Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw, Poland. He was 3 when the September 1939 invasion of Poland opened World War II in Europe. During the war, the Pieńkowskis moved about the continent; they settled in Herefordshire, England, in 1946, where Pieńkowski attended Lucton School. Meanwhile, Jan had illustrated his first book at the age of eight, as a present for his father.

Pieńkowski attended the Cardinal Vaughan School in London and later read English and Classics at King's College, Cambridge.

The “Cities as fairy-tales & shadow puppetry", an illustration by Jan Pieńkowski.

After leaving university he founded the Gallery Five greeting cards company. He began illustrating children's books in spare time but soon found it taking all his time.

The amazing illustrations of Jan Pieńkowski from "The Kingdom Under The Sea", a 100-page children's book first published by Jonathan Cape in 1971.

In 1968 Pieńkowski began working with children's author Joan Aiken. He won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal for their 1971 book, The Kingdom Under the Sea and other stories (Jonathan Cape), eleven "fairy tales from Eastern Europe and Russia" retold by Aiken. That award by the Library Association recognised the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. In retrospect the librarians call it "brilliantly illustrated in a highly original and recognisable silhouette style". One year earlier he had been one of three Greenaway runners up for The Golden Bird (J. M. Dent, 1970), written by Edith Brill.

Pieńkowski is probably best known for illustrating the Meg and Mog books written by Helen Nicoll, and for his pop-up books including Haunted House, Robot, Dinner Time, Good Night and 17 others. Haunted House (Heinemann, 1979) earned his second Greenaway Medal (no one has won three). The librarians describe it as "the house of petrifying pop-ups".

Pieńkowski has had a lifelong interest in stage design. He was commissioned to provide designs for Theatre de Complicite, Beauty and the Beast for the Royal Ballet, and Sleeping Beauty at Disneyland Paris.

In December 2008 he was a guest on Private Passions, a biographic music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3. Published episode notes include the observation that "[h]is musical choices, which all have strong personal resonances, reflect his Polish background as well as his love of both Italy and England." Recordings of two Polish numbers led the program: "Infant holy, infant lowly", a traditional Christmas Carol (lyrics in English translation), and Chopin's so-called Military Polonaise.

Private life

In October 2009 he was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. During the programme Pieńkowski discussed his childhood spent roaming Europe, his dead infant sister, his bipolarity and his collection of discarded garments (which he wears himself or gives away to charity shops).

He also talked about his 40-year relationship with his collaborator and civil partner, David Walser, whom he met in a pub on the Kings Road in West London. They contracted their partnership in Richmond on the first day this was possible in 2005.

Pieńkowski lives and works in Barnes, London.

References

Jan Pieńkowski Wikipedia