Ann James is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 of over 60 books for children. Born in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 Ann James has been illustrating books since the 1980s and has become a significant contributor towards the development and appreciation of children's literature in Australia. In 2000 she was awarded a the Pixie O'Harris

Pixie O'Harris

Pixie O'Harris MBE , was a Welsh-born Australian artist, newspaper, magazine and book illustrator, author, broadcaster, caricaturist and cartoonist, designer of book plates, sheet music covers and stationery, and children's hospital ward fairy-style mural painter...

 Award as a formal acknowledgment of this contribution and was also the 2002 recipient of the national Dromkeen medal

Dromkeen Medal

The Dromkeen Medal is a literary prize awarded annually by the Courtney Oldmeadow Children's Literature Foundation for those who have advanced children's literature in Australia.-List of prize winners:*1982 Lu Rees*1983 Maurice Saxby...

 for services towards children's literature. Anne James currently still lives and works in Melbourne, where she runs the Books Illustrated gallery and studio that she co-founded with Ann Haddon in 1988.

Biography

Ann James was born in Melbourne, Australia in October 1952, and grew up in the suburb of Ringwood. She attended Norwood Primary School and later, Tintern Girls School before entering teachers college in Melbourne. Training as an arts and crafts teacher, James first taught at both Doveton and Ringwood High School in Melbourne before being seconded to the Publications Branch of the Education Department of Victoria. It was here that she began to work as a graphic designer and illustrator of educational publications between 1978 to 1988.

During this time James began to independently illustrate children’s books, her first being, A Pet for Mrs Arbuckle, written by Gwenda Smyth, in 1981. As her career in books began to take off, (with 14 books published by 1988), James left the Department of Education and co-founded a gallery named Books Illustrated, dedicated to children’s book illustration. From this time onwards she has worked towards promoting Australian Children’s books, and continued illustrating books from her home in Melbourne, and her country studio, near Castlemaine, Victoria

Castlemaine, Victoria

Castlemaine is a city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne, and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The...

.

Career

Many of James's books have won or been short-listed

Short list

A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates . The length of short lists varies according to the context.-U.S...

 for the Children's Book Council of Australia

Children's Book Council of Australia

The Children's Book Council of Australia is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents annual awards for books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature.-Awards:The first...

 book of the year awards, including Bernice Knows Best, by Max Dann, (CBCA Junior Book of the Year, 1984) and Hannah Plus One by Libby Gleeson

Libby Gleeson

Libby Gleeson is an Australian children's author. Born in Young, New South Wales, she is one of six children, the sister of former ABC TV Washington Correspondent Michael Gleeson and the mother of Home and Away actress Jessica Tovey....

 which won the same award in 1997. Also in 1997, The Midnight Gang, by Margaret Wild

Margaret Wild

Margaret Wild is an Australian author. She was born in 1948 in Eschew, a small town in South Africa, and came to Australia in 1972. She now lives in Sydney. Before becoming a fulltime writer, Margaret was a journalist for newspapers and magazines and then she worked for sixteen years as a book...

, was a CBCA Picture Book of the Year Honor book, and went on to win three Children’s Choice awards around Australia. Books short-listed in the CBCA Awards included Dog In, Cat Out, by Gillian Rubinstein

Gillian Rubinstein

Gillian Rubinstein is an English-born children's author and playwright. Born in Potten End, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As well as eight plays, numerous short stories and articles, she has written...

; Hannah and the Tomorrow Room, by Libby Gleeson

Libby Gleeson

Libby Gleeson is an Australian children's author. Born in Young, New South Wales, she is one of six children, the sister of former ABC TV Washington Correspondent Michael Gleeson and the mother of Home and Away actress Jessica Tovey....

; Looking Out for Sampson, by Libby Hathorn; and Penny Pollard’s Diary and Penny Pollard’s Letters by Robin Klein

Robin Klein

Robin McMaugh Klein is an Australian author of books for children. She was born 28 February 1936, in Kempsey, New South Wales and now resides near Melbourne.-Early life:...

.

In 1988 Ann James co founded a gallery and studio space in Melbourne called Books Illustrated with fellow book enthusiast Ann Haddon. This gallery has become a center for children's literature and children's book illustration and has exhibited the work of many prominent Australian illustrators including, Terry Denton

Terry Denton

Terry Denton is an Australian illustrator and author. The second youngest of five boys, he was born and grew up in Melbourne, Victoria....

, Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books such as The Red Tree, The Lost Thing and The Arrival...

 and Leigh Hobbs

Leigh Hobbs

Leigh Hobbs is an Australian author of children's books and an illustrator. His works includes the Old Tom series and Fiona the Pig. He is mainly a children's book author. Lots of children like his books because of his illustrations. The pictures he draws are mainly in cartoon form.-Childhood:He...

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Ann James's illustrative work is part of the permanent collections of the Lou Rees Archives at University of Canberra

University of Canberra

Over the years the Stone Day program has gradually become larger and larger, taking up a whole week and now Stonefest is one of Australia's most popular music festivals. The first foundation celebrations were held in 1971. In 1973 Stone Day celebrations were held over two days, which was expanded...

, the Dromkeen Collection, Fremantle Children's Literature Centre, Seasons Gallery, and the Customs House Gallery.