Children’s author Jonny Duddle is the bestselling author of picture books, including ‘Gigantosaurus!’, ‘The Pirate Cruncher’ and ‘The Pirates Next Door’, which won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and has evolved into a series of chapter books featuring the Jolley-Rogers pirate family. His latest picture book is a sequel entitled ‘The Pirates of Scurvy Sands’. The Jolley-Rogers take Matilda (a landlubber) to a holiday island for pirates and they tackle the mystery of the long lost treasure buried by briny old sea captain, Mad Jack McMuddle.
Before becoming an author, Jonny was as a concept artist for computer games, TV and movies, including a four year stint designing characters for the Aardman feature film ‘Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!’. In the more distant past, Jonny worked as an art teacher in the Kalahari Desert, a children’s entertainer in Majorca and lived aboard a square-rig sailing ship for a whole year, often dressed as a pirate, shouting ‘ARRR!’ and swinging from the rigging.
Jonny has also illustrated many books by other authors, including Terry Pratchett, Philip Reeve and J.K.Rowling, most notably a full set of front and back covers for the Harry Potter children’s editions and the Hogwarts Library.
Jonny lives in North Wales and spend his days scribbling stories, colouring-in and walking his dog. He likes to read his books to mini-pirates at book festivals, schools and libraries, where he shouts ‘ARR!’, waves his cutlass and doodles pirates on big pieces of paper.
Find Jonny and his books online:
Jonny’s website
Jonny on Twitter
Jonny’s books on Hive
Jonny’s books on Amazon