{{EngvarB|date=January 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}{{Short description|British children's book author and illustrator}} {{Infobox author | name = Chris Priestley | image = Chris Priestley.jpg | caption = | birth_date ={{Birth year and age|1958}} | birth_place = | works = |alma_mater = {{Nowrap|Manchester Metropolitan University}} |genre = Children's literature, horror }}
'''Chris Priestley''' (born 1957) is a British children's book author and illustrator. He lives in Cambridge, England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chrispriestleybooks.com/|title=Chris Priestley Books}}</ref>
== Biography and career ==
Chris Priestley grew up in Wales and Gibraltar, where as a nine-year-old, he won a medal in a local newspaper's story-writing competition. In 1976, after spending his teens in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he left to study illustration at Manchester Polytechnic,{{cn|date=March 2016}} leaving in 1980 to freelance in London.
He worked as an illustrator for a wide range of clients and his work appeared regularly in ''The Times'', ''The Listener'' and ''The Observer''. He also worked briefly as a poster designer for the Royal Court Theatre and others.{{cn|date=December 2017}}
He has produced several strip cartoons - ''Bestiary'' for ''The Independent on Sunday'' (with Chris Riddell), ''Babel'' for ''The Observer'', ''7:30 for 8:0'' for ''The Independent'' and ''Payne’s Grey'' for the ''New Statesman''. From 1990 to 1996 he was a weekly cartoonist on ''The Economist'', and from 1996 to 1998 a daily cartoonist on ''The Independent''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/chrispriestley/biography|title=British Cartoon Archive: Chris Priestley|access-date=25 April 2011|archive-date=11 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311104149/http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/chrispriestley/biography|url-status=dead}}</ref>
His paintings have been widely exhibited, most recently at the Eastern Open and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, both in 2013.{{cn|date=December 2017}}
In 2000 he published his first children's book, ''Dog Magic''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/view/31775|title=Booktrust: About the Author Chris Priestley}}</ref>
In 2004, ''Death and the Arrow'' was shortlisted for an Edgar Award in the US,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv50.html#2004|title=2004 Edgar Awards|date=28 March 2021 }}</ref> and in 2006, ''Redwulf's Curse'' won the Lancashire Fantastic Book Award.
''Tales of Terror from the Black Ship'' won a CPNB Vlag and Wimpel in 2010 for the Dutch translation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.djlp.jugendliteratur.org/2011/kinderbuch-2/artikel-onkel_montagues_schauerge-126.html|title=Onkel Montagues Schauergeschichten|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408212827/http://www.djlp.jugendliteratur.org/2011/kinderbuch-2/artikel-onkel_montagues_schauerge-126.html|archivedate=2014-04-08}}</ref>
The German translation of ''Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror'' was shortlisted for a Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.talesofterror.co.uk/|title=Tales of Terror}}</ref>
''Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth'' won the Dracula Society Children of the Night Award in 2009.
''Mister Creecher'' won the BASH (Book Award St Helens) in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sthelens.gov.uk/what-we-do/sthelensgovuklibraries/sthelensgovukschoolslibraryservice/book-awards-st-helens-(bash)/|title=Book Awards|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408214546/http://www.sthelens.gov.uk/what-we-do/sthelensgovuklibraries/sthelensgovukschoolslibraryservice/book-awards-st-helens-%28bash%29/|archivedate=2014-04-08}}</ref>
Priestley has also written for radio, contributing two stories to the BBC Radio 2 ''It's Grimm Up North'' collection of Brothers Grimm updates, transmitted on Christmas Eve 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/52/its-grimm-up-north.html|title=It's Grimm Up North|access-date=20 December 2019|archive-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816082013/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/52/its-grimm-up-north.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Bibliography == * ''Freeze'' (2021) * ''Seven Ghosts'' (2019) * ''Maudlin Towers: Attack of the Meteor Monsters'' (2019) * ''Maudlin Towers: Treasure of the Golden Skull'' (2018) * ''Still Water'' (2018) * ''Maudlin Towers: Curse of the Werewolf Boy'' (2017) * ''Superpowerless'' (2017) * ''Flesh and Blood'' (2017) * ''The Last of the Spirits'' (2015) * ''Anything That Isn't This'' (2015) * ''The Dead Men Stood Together'' (2013) * ''Through Dead Eyes'' (2013) * ''Blood Oath'' (2011) * ''The Dead Of Winter'' (2010) * ''Mister Creecher'' (2010) * ''New World'' (2007) * ''Billy Wizard'' (2005) * ''Battle of Hastings'' (2003) * ''Witch Hunt'' (2003) * ''Battle of Britain: My Story'' (2002) * ''Jail-breaker Jack'' (2001) * ''Dog Magic!'' (2000)
=== Tales of Terror ===
* ''Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror'' (2009) * ''Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth'' (2009) * ''Tales of Terror from the Black Ship'' (2010) * ''The Teacher's Tales of Terror'' (2011) * ''Christmas Tales of Terror'' (2012)
=== Tom Marlowe Adventures === * ''Death and the Arrow'' (2003) * ''The White Rider'' (2004) * ''Redwulf's Curse'' (2005)
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Portal|Children's literature}} * [http://www.bloomsbury.com/Chris-Priestley/authors/8836/ Bloomsbury's biography page of Chris Priestley] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150618203210/http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/browse/cartoon_item/artist%3DChris%20Priestley British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent]
<!--- Categories --->
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, Chris}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Kingston upon Hull Category:English short story writers Category:British illustrators Category:British editorial cartoonists Category:British children's writers Category:English horror writers Category:English fantasy writers Category:British ghost story writers Category:Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Category:Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne