Bio

Watch a video interview with David Shannon.

Internationally acclaimed picture book creator David Shannon has always been an artist. “I’ve drawn since I could hold a pencil, or a crayon,” he says. At the age of five, he drew pictures of himself doing all the things he wasn’t supposed to be doing. It was this work that became the basis for his Caldecott Honor book No David!. Later, Duck on a Bike became the first book influenced directly by his daughter, Emma. She made animal noises before she could talk, so Shannon wrote a story with lots of moos, oinks, and woofs. Emma also provided the inspiration for Shannon’s plucky heroine Alice.

Born in Washington, D.C., Shannon grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Designin Pasadena, California, and then moved to New York City. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Time, and Rolling Stone, and his artwork has graced a number of book jackets. Now Shannon and his wife, Heidi, their daughter, Emma, and their dog, Fergus, live in Los Angeles, California.