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Tom Knight

Tom Knight grew up on Mersea Island on the Essex coast, where he returned to live after having children of his own. Having grown up on a small farm, Tom spent most of his time using his imagination to create new worlds from the hedgerows and haystacks.

After an enjoyable stint as a graphic designer, Tom is now proud to be using his imagination as a full time career. Drawing on a long and abiding love of imagery from childrens literature, Tom has worked for a diverse range of publishers, including Little Tiger Press, Templar, Simon and Schuster, Scholastic and Macmillan. He has also turned his hand to authoring his own titles and is the author and illustrator for the ‘Good Knight, Bad Knight’ books and ‘Jimmy Finnigan’s Wild Wood Band’.

He does all this from a poorly temperature-controlled studio in the garden, where he is constantly distracted by the greedy birds that hang out by the feeder outside his window.

Tom Knight is represented by Arabella Stein — to work with Tom please email Arabella

Awards

Teach Primary Book Awards 2020 - Shortlisted: Shortlisted for the Teach Primary Book Awards 2020 with ‘Good Knight, Bad Knight: The Flying Machine’, published by Templar Books.

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The Times Children's Book of the Week: ‘Good Knight, Bad Knight and the Flying Machine’ (Templar) picked as The Times Children’s Book of the Week May 17th.

‘This is the third book in a series called Good Knight, Bad Knight, written and illustrated by Tom Knight and published by Templar, which sounds unlikely, and certainly the setting of this funny, anachronistic fantasy is. It is the Dark Ages, except children go to school and wear glasses, and there are magic spells and dragons. Barbarians clean their armpits with damp fish. The silliness is a cut above, not least because the author is also a skilled cartoonist. Cousins Godwin (Good Knight) and Berk (Bad Knight) are involved with their friends in a plan to build a flying machine to attack the barbarians. The barbarians have meanwhile decided’ - Nicolette Jones

Reviews

" ...a strong buy for classes or libraries needing to support research projects or students interested in world history." - School Library Journal: “This latest entry in the “First Names” series covers Ferdinand Magellan’s life (1480–1521), from his boyhood in Portugal to his death in the Philippines. Gourlay provides plenty of engaging action scenes and historical facts but also discusses the impact his conquests had on the Native and Indigenous populations of the lands he visited. Knight’s illustrations are often accompanied by dialogue or captions, which allow readers to visualize certain parts of the story. Maps, time lines, and a glossary help to make the sometimes complex route of Magellan’s voyages more understandable. The main points of sections are often summarized in a separate font, which note-taking students are sure to appreciate. VERDICT: A modern, engaging biography that is a strong buy for classes or libraries needing to support research projects or students interested in world history.” - Review of First NamesL Ferdinand Magellan written by Candy Gourlay, published by Abrams.

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