RON LIGHTBURN

Click on any of the thumbnails below to enlarge,
or to see Ron's illustrations as part of the TLA portfolio, click here.

 

photo by Sandra Lightburn

Ron Lightburn's career as a children's book illustrator was launched with his Governor General's Award-winning artwork for Waiting for the Whales in 1991. Since then he has illustrated numerous other best selling picture books and has become internationally renowned for his sensitive storytelling skills and range of illustration styles, from the touching realism of How Smudge Came to the exuberant whimsy of The Happily Ever Afternoon. During the past quarter century his artwork has graced the covers of over sixty books and has been featured in magazines, calendars, posters and advertisements across North America. His corporate clients include Kool Aid, McDonald's Restaurants and Aliant Telecom. His artwork has been recognized and exhibited by The Society of Illustrators in New York and is included in the permanent collections of Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books in Toronto and the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy in Toronto. In 2005 his paintings for A Poppy Is To Remember were selected to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Library and Archives Canada publication Read Up On It.

Ron and his partner Sandra reside in the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.

 

Forthcoming:

Pumpkin People
Nimbus Publishing

Illustrated Books:

The Happily Ever Afternoon
Annick, Spring 2006

• Shortlisted, 5th Annual Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award
  for Excellence in Illustration, 2007 Atlantic Book Award

A Poppy is to Remember and as Un coquelicot pour se souvenir
Scholastic (Can), 2004

• Finalist, 2006 Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award

• Nominated, 2005 Shining Willow Award,
  Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice

I Am An Actor and as Je suis un comedien
Gage Learning (Can) and Editions de la Cheneliere, 2003

Wild Girl and Gran
Red Deer College Press, (Can) 2000

• Our Choice Award from the Canadian Children's Book Centre

Driftwood Cove
Doubleday Canada, 1998

• 1999 Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize
  

How Smudge Came
Red Deer College Press, (Can) 1995

• 1996 Mr. Christie’s Book Award

• 1996 Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize
  

Mother Goose - A Canadian Sampler
Groundwood Books, (Can) 1994 (contributor)

Eagle Dreams
Orca Book Publishers, (Can) 1994

• Our Choice Award from the Canadian Children's Book Centre

I Can’t Sleep
Orca Book Publishers, (Can) 1992

• Our Choice Award from the Canadian Children's Book Centre

Waiting for the Whales
Orca Publishers, (Can) 1991

• 1992 Governor-General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration

• 1992 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustration Award

• 1992 Elizabeth Mrazik Cleever Canadian Picture Book Award