Deborah Niland
Deborah Mary Niland (born 1950) is an Australian artist, well known as a writer and illustrator of children's books. Some of her most popular books include "Annie's Chair", "When The Wind Changed", "Mulga Bill's Bicycle", and "Chatterbox". In 2006 she won , with her book "Annie's Chair". Biography. Niland and her twin sister Kilmeny are the youngest of five children of Australian authors D'Arcy Niland and Ruth Park. Niland was born in Auckland, New Zealand and raised in Sydney, Australia. Niland and her sister, Kilmeny attended the Julian Ashton Art School in The Rocks, Sydney . Here they studied drawing and painting, taught in the traditional manner, by J Richard Ashton. Both began their art careers by freelancing. In London, they received illustration work from Transworld and their first full-length picture book "The Little Goat" was published in 1971. Niland and her sister, Kilmeny worked together on thirteen books. Their best-known collaboration is an illustrated version of "Mulga Bill's Bicycle", based on a poem written by A. B. (Banjo) Paterson. This classic picture book was first published in 1973, and has never been out of print. The newest edition is published by HarperCollins  Australia. Niland's early career as a book illustrator involved collaborations with author Ruth Park ("When The Wind Changed" (1980), "Roger Bandy" (1977) and "The Gigantic Balloon" (1975)) and author Jean Chapman ("Velvet Paws and Whiskers" (1979) and "The Sugar Plum Christmas Book" (1977)). Niland has both written and illustrated many children's titles including "Annie's Chair" (2005), "The Big Green Thing" (2008), and "Let's Play" (2007). Throughout her career, Niland has illustrated more than 50 titles. In addition to book illustration, Niland has been a freelance contributor to "The Australian Women's Weekly" for over ten years , providing mainly humorous illustrations for articles and stories. Work for other magazines included "Cleo", "Family Circle", "CHOICE" and "Reader's Digest". When illustrating or painting, Niland uses a variety of materials, including pen and ink, coloured pencil, acrylic paint, water-colour, pencil and digital media. Niland has continued to work in the fine arts, producing paintings for exhibitions and galleries. She has won several prizes, including The Robert le Gay Brereton Prize for Drawing, awarded by the Art Gallery of NSW and the North Sydney Art Prize (Open) 2009. Her work has been acquired by private and public collections. Awards . Niland was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "service to children's literature." Niland has won a selection of awards for her picture-books.