Kerry Argent

Life

Argent was born in Angaston in South Australia. She came to notice when she was part of the new wave of children's books published when Bob Hawke was the Prime Minister. As part of her graduate course she illustrated a counting book written by her partner, artist and author Rod Trinca, called One Woolly Wombat. This book inspired a revival of Australian children's literature and provided the financial foundation from which Omnibus Books was able to finance publishing its second book: Possum Magic by Mem Fox. One Woolly Wombat has been the recipient of both international and national awards and was selected as the "Best Children's Book" in 1985, when it won a Whitley Award by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. It is now considered a modern-day classic of Australian children's literature. It continues to sell, 30 years after its first release.

Argent has illustrated several books by Australian children's writers Mem Fox, Thelma Catterwell and Margaret Wild. Her illustrations for Sofie Laguna's Too Loud Lily gained the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year award for early childhood in 2003.