Gerald Hembdon Seymour Rose (27 July 1935 – 5 May 2023) was a British illustrator of children's books. He won the 1960 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject, for Old Winkle and the Seagulls, written by his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Rose and published by Faber and Faber.[1]
Biography
Gerald Rose was born in Hong Kong on 27 July 1935. His father was from England and his mother was from Borneo, adopted by a missionary and educated in Hong Kong.[2] During the Second World War, his father became a prisoner of war, and his sister and mother were interned at Stanley civilian detention camp.[3] After the war, he and his sister grew up in their father's home town of Lowestoft.[2] Rose attended the Lowestoft School of Art and the Royal Academy.[3] He married Elizabeth Pretty in 1955, after they met as art students. They had three children and were together until her death in 2020.[2]
Gerald and Elizabeth Rose began to produce children's books, with she writing and he illustrating. How St. Francis Tamed the Wolf was published by Faber in 1958. Gerald was a commended runner-up for the Greenaway Medal next year, when the librarians introduced the distinction, recognising Wuffles Goes to Town.[4][a]
In 1979 Gerald Rose won the Premio Critici in Erba in Italy for "Ahhh!" said Stork (Faber, 1977).
^ abToday there are usually eight books on the Greenaway shortlist.
According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 99 commendations of both kinds in 44 years, including Rose and Edward Ardizzone when the distinction was inaugurated for 1959.
References
^ ab(Greenaway Winner 1960). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
