Haunted House

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As a young child, Pieńkowski was taught by his mother, who encouraged his passion for drawing and making things. On arrival in Britain, aged 10, he was sent to Lucton boarding school in Herefordshire, and added English to his already fluent German, Italian and Polish. His passion for art developed further after he started life-drawing classes at the age of 13. Original artwork, drawings, paintings, silhouettes, ceramics and signed books for sale from Jan Pienkowski and David Walser. Haunted House ( Heinemann, 1979) earned Pieńkowski his second Greenaway Medal (no one has won three). [9] The librarians describe it as "the house of petrifying pop-ups". [9] The pop-up book was so successful that Intervisual Books Inc. reproduced the book as part of its 1992 Annual Report. The report noted "Haunted House was first published in 1979, and has sold 1,083,366 copies, in 13 languages, to nearly 30 countries worldwide." [10] 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. [7] 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". [7] One year earlier he had been one of three Greenaway runners up for The Golden Bird ( J. M. Dent, 1970), written by Edith Brill. [8] [a]

After Nicoll died in 2012, he added further Meg and Mog titles with new stories written by his partner, David Walser. Pieńkowski and Walser, a translator, artist, musician and writer, had been together for more than 40 years when they became civil partners in 2005 – as soon as it was possible to do so – settling in Hammersmith, west London. A devout Catholic, Pieńkowski was sorry not to be able to have the union solemnised in church, although his priest said vespers for the couple.

Jan Michał Pieńkowski (8 August 1936 – 19 February 2022) was a Polish-born British author of children's books—as illustrator, as writer, and as designer of movable books. He is best known for illustrating the Meg and Mog picture book series. [1] He 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. [2] [3] Pieńkowski illustrated his first book at the age of eight, as a present for his father. During World War II, Pieńkowski's family moved about Europe, finally settling in Herefordshire, England in 1946. He attended the Cardinal Vaughan School in London, and later read English and Classics at King's College, Cambridge. Jan Pienkowski". Broadcast episode notes (recording not available). Private Passions, Sunday 14 December 2008, 12:00 (one hour). BBC Radio3. Retrieved 1 December 2012.

Styles, Morag (20 February 2022). "Jan Pieńkowski obituary". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 February 2022. The Booker Prize trophy: the story behind our distinctive statuette". The Booker Prizes . Retrieved 6 February 2023. Rural life on a farm was cut short, however, when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. The family moved to Warsaw, where his mother’s family lived, and his father worked briefly as a bailiff. When Jan was five years old, Jerzy, who had helped organise resistance groups, had to go underground for a year. Francesca Dow, the managing director of Penguin Random House Children’s Books, confirmed that he died on Saturday morning. In 1969, Pieńkowski designed a trophy for the Booker Prize, which was unveiled at the first prize ceremony that year, with the statuette being awarded to P. H. Newby. [16] Although the statuette was out of use for many years, after Pieńkowski's death it was reinstated in his honour and was awarded to the winner of the Booker Prize 2022, Shehan Karunatilaka. [17] Books [ edit ]animals, including a Gorilla, Tiger and Shark, pop out at you in vibrant colours in that teaches young children about the food chain in this chiling tale. Find out more He added: “Full of love, curiosity, art, thought, enjoyment and laughter. He will be much missed, as a man, and as a towering figure in children’s books.” Until he was eight the family lived in a village in a part of western Poland, annexed by Germany in 1939, where his father had a job as a bailiff on a country estate.

In October 2009, Pieńkowski was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. During the programme he discussed his childhood spent roaming Europe, his dead infant sister, his bipolarity and his collection of discarded garments (which he would wear himself or give away to charity shops). [6]

Haunted House

Pieńkowski’s work was often inspired by his Polish childhood and experiences as a wartime refugee. His interest in paper cut-outs stemmed from his time in an air raid shelter in Warsaw, where a soldier had kept him amused by cutting newspapers into shapes for him. a b c d e "Jan Pienkowski obituary". The Times. 22 February 2022. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 24 February 2022. 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. After leaving university Pieńkowski founded the Gallery Five greeting cards company. He began illustrating children's bo Jan Michel Pieńkowski is a Polish-born British illustrator and author of children's books. He is probably best known for his Meg and Mog books with writer Helen Nicoll and for his pop-up books, including Haunted House (winner of the 1980 Kate Greenaway Medal), Robot, Dinner Time, Good Night and seventeen others.