Graeme Base

Graeme Rowland Base (born 6 April 1958) is an author and artist of picture books. He is perhaps best known for his second book, Animalia published in 1986, and third book The Eleventh Hour which was released in 1989.

He was born in Amersham, England but moved to Australia with his family at the age of eight and has lived there ever since.^[1] He attended Box Hill High School and Melbourne High School in Melbourne, and then studied a Diploma of Art (Graphic Design) for three years at Swinburne University of Technology at Prahran.

He worked in advertising for two years and then began illustrating children's books, gradually moving to authoring them as well.^[2] His first book, My Grandma lived in Gooligulch, was accepted by the first publisher he sent it to.^[3]

Base resides in Melbourne with his wife Robyn and has three children.

Notable works

• My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch (1983)
• Animalia (1986)
• Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky (Illustrator, 1987)
• Maureen Stewart's Creation Stories (Illustrator, 1988)
• The Eleventh Hour (1989)
• The Sign of the Seahorse (1992)
• The Discovery of Dragons (1996)
• Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky: A Book of Brillig Dioramas (Illustrator, 1996)
• The Worst Band in the Universe (1999)
• The Waterhole (2001)
• Truck Dogs (2003)
• Jungle Drums (2004)
• Uno's Garden (2006)
• The Discovery of Dragons: New Research Revealed (2007)
• Enigma (2008)
• Julie Watts' The Art of Graeme Base (Illustrator, 2008)
• The Legend of the Golden Snail (2010)
• The Jewel Fish of Karnak (2011)
• Little Elephants (2012)

The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery was re-released five years later in 1993 with a new, special sealed section in the back called "The Inside Story". Labelled "TOP SECRET", it carries the paragraph: Within lies the solution to the Curious Mystery of The Eleventh Hour, as well as detailed explanations of all the clues and puzzles in the illustrations. Do not turn this page until you have tried your hardest to unravel the Mystery – for the getting of wisdom is no match for the thrill of the chase, and those who choose the longer road shall reap their reward! — Graeme Base

Graeme's first (and to date only) novel, Truck Dogs (A Novel in Four Bites), has been released in paperback as well as a hardcover edition that includes sixteen colour plates of profiles of the characters (each half-dog, half-vehicle), depicting them as they would have appeared in the abandoned picture book, before Graeme decided to instead release the story as a novel for teenagers and younger readers.

Adaptations of Base's works

• The Sign of the Seahorse was adapted as an opera with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2001.^[4]
• An exhibition was created based on The Water Hole and displayed at the National Museum of Australia.^[5]
• My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch was adapted as a play by Gooligulch Productions. The play premiered at the Chookahs! Kids Festival (Melbourne) in 2006^[6] and is touring country areas in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.^[7]
• Animalia has been made into a television series (Animalia), and also is one of the most sold books around the world.^[4] Base was an executive producer for the series, and also composed the opening theme music with Yuri Worontschak.^[8]
• Animalia was made into an iPhone and iPad app in 2010. Published on the iTunes app store by AppBooks and produced by The Base Factory. An iPhone app based on Jungle Drums was released by Inyerpocket in 2008.

Awards

• 1998 Dromkeen Medal

References

External links

• Graeme Base Official Art Gallery website
• Author Profile at Penguin Australia, including list of Graeme Base's awards
• Trailer for the upcoming Animalia animated television series
• Video: Graeme Base discusses writing and illustrating children's books
• Graeme Base's YouTube Channel, including a demonstration of his Animalia iPad application and the Augmented Reality feature of The Legend of the Golden Snail

He died in 2006