Sydney Smith (illustrator)

Canadian illustrator of children's books

Sydney Smith is a Canadian illustrator of children's books. He is the 2024 recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".^[1]He earlier won the 2015 Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration for Sidewalk Flowers, a wordless picture book which he illustrated with author JonArno Lawson. He currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[2]

Education

Smith studied drawing and printmaking at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[3] It was while studying there that he realized his interest for illustrating children's books.

Career

Most of his work is illustrations for other authors. Smith's first three assignments were for re-issues of books by Sheree Fitch. To date he has authored and illustrated two titles, 2019's Small in the City and 2023's Do You Remember? He has worked for two different publishing houses in his career as an illustrator: Nimbus Publishing and Groundwood Books. In addition to his work as an illustrator and author, Smith has also done graphic design work for Canadian musical acts Hey Rosetta! and Old Man Luedecke.^[4]

Published works

• 2010: Mabel Murple by Sheree Fitch
• 2011: There Were Monkeys In My Kitchen by Sheree Fitch
• 2012: Toes In My Nose: And Other Poems by Sheree Fitch
• 2014: Jewel of the Thames (A Portia Adams Adventure Book 1) by Angela Misri
• 2014: Music Is For Everyone by Jill Barber
• 2015: Grant and Tillie Go Walking by Monica Kulling
• 2015: Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson
• 2016: Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding
• 2016: The White Cat and the Monk: A Retelling of the Poem "Pangur Bán" by Jo Ellen Bogart
• 2017: Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz
• 2019: Small in the City by Sydney Smith
• 2020: I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott
• 2023: Do You Remember? by Sydney Smith
• 2023: My Baba's Garden by Jordan Scott

Awards and recognition

References

1. "Canadian illustrator Sydney Smith wins prestigious children's book prize, Hans Christian Andersen Award". CBC Books, April 8, 2024.
2. "About".
3. "Q and A Sidewalk Flowers illustrator Sydney Smith". Quill and Quire. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
4. "Q and A Sidewalk Flowers illustrator Sydney Smith". Quill and Quire. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
5. "Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration". The Canadian Children's Book Centre. 2015. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
6. "Sidewalk Flowers - Anansi Press". Anansi Press. 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
7. "Prix Libbylit". Ricochet Jeune. 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
8. "Sidewalk Flowers - Anansi Press". Anansi Press. 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
9. "Sidewalk Flowers - Anansi Press". Anansi Press. 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
10. "Sidewalk Flowers - Anansi Press". Anansi Press. 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
11. "Sidewalk Flowers wins CLA's 2016 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award". Canadian Library Association. 15 April 2016.
12. "PW: Geraldine McCaughrean, Sydney Smith Win 2018 Carnegie, Greenaway Medals". Publishers Weekly. 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
13. "Best Canadian children's book of 2018? It just won a $50,000 prize". thestar. 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
14. Flood, Alison (16 June 2021). "Jason Reynolds wins Carnegie medal for 'breathtaking' Look Both Ways". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
15. "Reynolds, Smith win 2021 Carnegie, Greenaway medals". Books+Publishing. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.