Mo Willems

Mo Willems is a highly acclaimed author and illustrator, best known for his work in children's books. He was born in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1968 and grew up in New Orleans, where he attended Isidore Newman School and Trinity Episcopal School. Willems later graduated cum laude from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Willems is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author and illustrator of numerous picture books, including "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale," both of which have received a Caldecott Honor. His other popular picture books include "Leonardo the Terrible Monster," "Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct," and "Time to Pee." In addition to these, Willems has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers, and published "You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons," an annotated cartoon journal from his year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91. The New York Times Book Review has praised Willems as "the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's."

Willems' work has been translated into numerous languages, and his illustrations, wire sculpture, and carved ceramics have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the nation. Before becoming a children's book author and illustrator, Willems worked as a writer and animator for television, winning six Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street. He also created Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats, Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-wrote Codename: Kids Next Door. Willems currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.