Nick Butterworth is one of Britain's best loved writer-illustrators.
Having intended to go to art college after leaving school, Nick decided to take a job as a typographic designer in the printing department of the National Children’s Home at the last minute instead. He went on to work for several major London design consultancies before moving into freelance graphics. He has also worked as a television presenter on the TV-AM children’s programme Rub-a-Dub-Tub and produced a regular illustrated story called Upney Junction for the Sunday Express magazine. At present, Nick concentrates on writing and illustrating his phenomenally successful children’s books.
Percy The Park Keeper first came to life in One Snowy Night in 1989, which The Sunday Times described as, ‘a tremendous and well-deserved success’ and The Independent called, ‘a heart warming bedtime tale.’ More Percy adventures followed and the range now includes six hardback books, paperbacks, audio tapes (read by Richard Briers) and a range of activity books. Each title is dedicated to one of Percy’s animal friends and includes stories, poems and interesting information making these books the ultimate guide to Percy and his animal friends.
Percy has sold a staggering four and a half million copies worldwide and been translated into 16 languages. A Percy book is bought every 15 minutes – not bad for an animal-loving park keeper!
Nick has also written and illustrated other popular books for children including All Together Now!, Amanda’s Butterfly, Jingle Bells, Q Pootle5 and Q Pootle 5 in Space, Tiger and Tiger in the Snow. Nick’s book Albert Le Blanc was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2002 and in 2005 The Whisperer, was nominated for the same award. Albert Le Blanc to the Rescue, the long awaited sequel to Albert Le Blanc, is published in October 2007.
Nick lives in Suffolk with his wife and two children. His success is outstanding and marks him out as one of the most popular and talented author/illustrators in the world of children’s books today.