Dan Marshall

Author, Illustrator

Dan is an author and illustrator who takes his young audience on an educational and entertaining journey of discovery, revealing how he approaches his illustrated fact books and how he generates the ideas and creates his book’s illustrations. He then turns the table on his audience and has them illustrating their own mind blowing facts, inspired by what they have just seen and heard.

Mind Blown

Look Book

No Way!

Super Duper

Eww Gross

False Versus Facts

Where were you born?

I was born in Southport, in the United Kingdom. I visited Australia in 2001 and never went home.

What other jobs have you had?

Graphic designer, bartender and t-shirt seller. I also once worked in a factory packing ice creams in to boxes. It was very cold and very, very dull.

What themes are recurring in your work?

Science, humans, mathematics, animals, earth, space and the universe.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Speaking at the Sydney Writers Festival for the past two years, visiting schools, running workshops and meeting all the kids who enjoy my books. I was sent a picture last year of one young boy who had dressed up as one of my books for his book week parade. The ultimate honour. Having my first book turned in to an amazing exhibition at QVMAG in Tasmania. They merged their incredible collection with large format illustrations from my book. There were dinosaurs and biplanes on display.

Where have your works been published?

United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Poland.

What are you passionate about?

I’m equally as passionate about science as I am about illustration. My books meet somewhere in the middle and I genuinely love writing and illustrating them. It’s one of my favourite things in life. My head is always full of new facts.

Haven’t I seen you before?

Probably on stage at Sydney Writers Festival or at the schools of NSW that I have visited with my books.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

I have two young daughters who keep me on my toes and are my own special test audience for my ideas.