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Shaun Tan

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Shaun Tan
Tan in 2011
Born (1974-01-15) January 15, 1974 (age 51)
Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Notable workThe Red Tree
The Lost Thing
The Arrival
Cicada
Websiteshauntan.net
thebirdking.blogspot.com.au

Shaun Tan (born 15 January 1974) is an Australian artist, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his graphic novel The Arrival (2006), which won several awards, and for his 2010 animated short film adaptation of the 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated, The Lost Thing, for which he won an Academy Award. He has also written and illustrated many other books, including The Lost Thing (2000) and The Red Tree (2001). Many of his works have won awards, including in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, and many have been adapted for screen and stage.

Early life and education

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Shaun Tan was born on 15 January 1974[1] in Fremantle, Western Australia,[2] to a Chinese Malaysian father and an Australian mother. He grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth.[3]

As a boy, Tan spent time illustrating poems and stories and drawing dinosaurs, robots and spaceships. At school he was known as a talented artist.[4] At the age of eleven, he became a fan of The Twilight Zone television series as well as books that bore similar themes. Tan cites Ray Bradbury as a favourite at this time. These stories led to Tan writing his own short stories. Of his effort at writing as a youth, Tan tells, "I have a small pile of rejection letters as testament to this ambition!"[5] At the age of sixteen, Tan's first illustration appeared in the Australian magazine Aurealis in 1990.[5]

Tan almost studied to become a geneticist, and enjoyed chemistry, physics, history and English while in high school as well as art and claimed that he did not really know what he wanted to do.[5] During his university studies, Tan decided to move from academic studies to working as an artist.[6]

Tan continued his education at the University of Western Australia where he studied Fine Arts, English Literature and History. While this was of interest to him, there was little practical work involved.[6] In 1995, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.[7][1]

Career

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Work process

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Initially, Tan worked in black and white because the final reproductions would be printed that way. Some black and white mediums he used include pens, inks, acrylics, charcoal, scraperboard, photocopies, and linocuts.[5] Tan's current colour works include multiple different colours. He uses a graphite pencil to make sketches on ordinary copy paper. The sketches are then reproduced numerous times with different versions varying with parts added or removed. Sometimes scissors are used for this purpose. The cut and paste collage idea in these early stages is often extend to the finished production with many of his illustrations using such materials as "glass, metal, cuttings from other books and dead insects".[5]

Tan describes himself as a slow worker who revises his work many times along the way. He is interested in loss and alienation, and believes that children in particular react well to issues of natural justice. He feels he is "like a translator" of ideas, and is happy and flattered to see his work adapted and interpreted in film and music (such as by the Australian Chamber Orchestra).[8] Tan draws from a large source of inspiration and cites many influences on his work.[5]

Tan's work has been described as an "Australian vernacular" that is "at once banal and uncanny, familiar and strange, local and universal, reassuring and scary, intimate and remote, guttersnipe and sprezzatura. No rhetoric, no straining for effect. Never other than itself."[9]

Recognition and awards

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In 2000, the Victorian Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education hosted Tan as illustrator/writer in residence for two weeks through a fellowship offered by the May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust. As part of the residency, Tan presented lectures and seminars at the University of Melbourne, met with individual students and staff, and visited two schools and conducted a research seminar.[10]

The annual Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists is an art award sponsored by the City of Subiaco, which has been held since 2003.[11] It is open to all Western Australian school children between 5 and 18 years.[12] There are five award categories: three for primary school years and two for senior years, with prizes are donated by the council and other award sponsors presented to the top three entries in each category. A selection of the best entries are exhibited for a month in Subiaco Library, with the 2025 entries on display from 7 July to 3 August.[13]

In 2010, Tan was awarded the Dromkeen Medal, presented by the State Library Victoria to those who have advanced children's literature in Australia.[14]

In 2011, Tan won the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council, the biggest prize in children's literature, for his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense".[15]

Book awards

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Individual book awards include:

1992
L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest: First Australian to win[5]
1993
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Nominated for Relics[16]
1995
Ditmar Award, Professional Artwork, Winner for Aurealis and Eidolon[5]
1996
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for Eidolon Issue 19 (Cover)[16]
1997
Ditmar Award, Professional Artwork, Nominated for artwork in Eidolon and the cover of The Stray Cat[16]
1998
Crichton Award, Winner for The Viewer
Children's Book Council of Australia, Notable Book for The Viewer
Ditmar Award, Artwork/Artist, Nominated for The Viewer[16]
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Book, Shortlisted for The Playground
1999
Aurealis Conveners' Award for Excellence for The Rabbits
Children's Book Council of Australia, Notable Book for The Playground
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Winner for The Rabbits
Ditmar Award, Australian Professional Artwork, Nominated for The Rabbits[16]
Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration for The Rabbits
2000
APA Design Award for Memorial
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for Memorial
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Coode St Review of Science Fiction[16]
Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Writing for Young Adults award, Shortlisted for Lost Thing[17]
2001
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Lost Thing[16]
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Books, Shortlisted for Red Tree
World Fantasy Award for Best Artist[18]
2002
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Red Tree
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature Winner for Red Tree
2006
Premier's Prize and Children's Books category winner in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for The Arrival[19]
2007
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Nominated for The Arrival[16]
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing
World Fantasy Award for Best Artist[20]
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award and Book of the Year for The Arrival[21]
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year for "The Arrival"[22]
2008
Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book for Là où vont nos pères, the French edition of The Arrival[23]
Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Related Book for The Arrival[24]
Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Professional Artist (also in 2009 and 2010)
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Young Adult category winner for Tales from Outer Suburbia
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Special Citation for The Arrival[25]
Winner Locus Award for Best Illustrated and Art Book for The Arrival[16]
2009
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for Tales from Outer Suburbia[16]
Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing
World Fantasy Award for Best Artist[18]
2010
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, winner of the Children's Literature Award category and the South Australian Premier's Award for Tales from Outer Suburbia
Hugo Award, Best Professional Artist
2011
Academy Award, Won Best Short Film (Animated) for The Lost Thing
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Lost Thing[16]
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Nominated for Australis Imaginarium[16]
Hugo Award, Best Professional Artist[26]
Peter Pan Prize for the Swedish translation of The Arrival[27]
Winner Locus Award for Best Artist[16]
2012
Locus Award for Best Artist[16]
2014
Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for Rules of Summer[16]
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Picture Book Honor for Rules of Summer[25]
2019
World Fantasy Award for Best Artist, Finalist[28]:Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Winner for Cicada[29]

2020

Kate Greenaway Medal, Winner for Tales from the Inner City[30]

Adaptations

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Works

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Books

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As illustrator

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  • The Pipe, by James Moloney (1996)
  • The Stray Cat, by Steven Paulsen (1996)
  • The Doll, by Janine Burke (1997)
  • The Half Dead, by Garry Disher (1997)
  • The Viewer, written by Gary Crew (1997)
  • The Rabbits, written by John Marsden (1998)
  • The Hicksville Horror, by Nette Hilton (1999)
  • The Puppet, by Ian Bone (1999)
  • Memorial, written by Gary Crew (1999)
  • Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link (2008)

As author and illustrator

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Installations

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  • The Tea Party (2002), a mural covering 24 square metres above bookshelves in the Children's Section of the Subiaco Public Library in Perth[40]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Shaun Tan". Britannica Kids. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Shaun Tan". State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  3. ^ Tan, Shaun (2012). "STRANGE MIGRATIONS: IBBY Conference Keynote, London 2012". shauntan.net. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Biography: Shaun Tan". Scholastic. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Haber, Karen (December 2001). "Shaun Tan: Out of Context". Locus (12).
  6. ^ a b "Shaun Tan", Visual arts requirements case studies, NSW HSC Online.
  7. ^ Agent, AustLit.
  8. ^ "Shaun Tan: Tales from Outer Suburbia", The Book Show, ABC Radio National, 29 May 2008
  9. ^ Robb, Peter (13 September 2013). "The view from outside". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Shaun puts students in the picture". University of Melbourne. 9 June 2000. Archived from the original on 22 February 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  11. ^ Chang, Jiang (7 September 2024). "🏆Shaun Tan Award Winners🏆". Perth Art School. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  12. ^ "Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists" (brochure and entry form). 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists". City of Subiaco. 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  14. ^ "Previous recipients: Dromkeen Medal". State Library Victoria. 21 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  15. ^ "2011: Shaun Tan: A masterly visual storyteller" Archived 15 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Science fiction awards database".
  17. ^ "Western Australian Premier's Book Awards – 2000 Shortlist". State Library of Western Australia.
  18. ^ a b "Award Winners and Nominees". World Fantasy Convention. 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  19. ^ "Shaun Tan", Premier's Book Awards Hall of Fame, State Library of Western Australia.
  20. ^ "World Fantasy Awards Winners", Locus Online News, November 2007.
  21. ^ "2007 NSW Premier's Literary Awards", The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 May 2007
  22. ^ "Winners 2007", Book of the Year Awards, CBCA, archived from the original on 3 July 2008.
  23. ^ "Palmarès Officiel 2008 Fauve D'Or: Prix du Meilleur Album" [Official 2008 Fauve D'Or trophy: Best album prize]. Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême (in French). Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  24. ^ "2008 Hugo Award Nomination list". Denvention. Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  25. ^ a b "Past Boston Globe – Horn Book Award Winners – The Horn Book". hbook.com. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  26. ^ "2011 Hugo Award Winners". The Hugo Awards. 21 August 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  27. ^ "Tidigare mottagare". Peter Pan-priset (in Swedish). International Board on Books for Young People. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  28. ^ "World Fantasy Awards 2019 | World Fantasy Convention". Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  29. ^ "CBCA Awards 2019 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  30. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (17 June 2020). "McGowan and Tan awarded CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals". The Bookseller.
  31. ^ Queensland Performing Arts Centre Media Release Archived 19 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ a b Australian Chamber Orchestra The Red Tree Accessed: 2008-05-29
  33. ^ Lothian Books
  34. ^ "Jigsaw Theatre Company". Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  35. ^ "The Arrival – Red Leap Theatre". Australian Stage. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  36. ^ "Orkestra of the Underground".
  37. ^ "Bold and unexpected: Creative Futures Fund invests in new projects shaping our creative future". IFACCA. 10 July 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  38. ^ "Creative Futures Fund 2025". Creative Australia. 11 July 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  39. ^ Tan, Shaun (3 November 2020). Dog. ISBN 978-1-76052-613-9. OCLC 1191088993.
  40. ^ "[Subiaco Museum] Mural: 'The Tea Party', Shaun Tan". Collections WA. Retrieved 22 July 2025.

Further reading

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Library resources about
Shaun Tan
By Shaun Tan
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shaun Tan.
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