Author and Illustrator Biographies

Bruce Whatley

Since 1992 Bruce has written or illustrated over 50 titles published both in Australia and overseas. His award winning titles include The Ugliest Dog in the World, Looking for Crabs, Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase and Diary of a Wombat.

Bruce Whatley's first book was published in 1992. Since then he has had over 50 titles published in Australia and overseas.

Bruce's main inspiration has been his family, who feature in several of his earlier picture books. He uses a variety of illustration medium including gouache, pen and ink, pencil, oils and watercolour. His aim is to entertain and surprise the reader with illustration styles that vary considerably depending on the text and the age group of his audience.

He often works with his wife Rosie Smith, who has co-authored several of his titles.

Award winning titles include The Ugliest Dog in the World, Looking for Crabs and Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase. More recently a successful partnership with Jackie French resulted in the Award winning Diary of a Wombat, Pete the Sheep and Josephine wants to Dance.

Bruce has just completed his PhD, Left Hand Right Hand: implications of ambidextrous image making looking at the image making of the non-dominant hand.