Calef Brown
Illustrator, author and poet Calef Brown was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and spent his childhood in the north east of the United States. He studied illustration at the Pratt Institute and the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California, and has taught at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and the Maine College of Art in Portland. Working predominantly in acrylic and gouache on paper, his style has been described as "post-modern folk art", with bright colours and surreal elements. He has stated that his poems and artwork are influenced by wordplay, dreams, and his travels in southern India.
His first book, Polkabats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories (1998), won the Marion Vannett Ridgeway Award for Poetry. He has since published five collections of his own poems and stories, as well as illustrating the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edward Lear, and collaborating with other children’s writers including John Harris, Daniel Pinkwater, and Hege Siri. He regularly tours schools, and also engages in freelance work for adult audiences. He lives in Maine.
Sources:
Official website (accessed: October 19, 2020).
Profile at poetryfoundation.org (accessed: October 19, 2020).
Jules, Seven Questions—And a Little Bit of Soup—Over Breakfast with Calef Brown, blaine.org, published April 14, 2009 (accessed: October 19, 2020).
Bio prepared by Miriam Riverlea, University of New England, mriverlea@gmail.com
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