Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Brendan Jeffers (born October 5, 1977) is an Australian-born Northern Irish artist, illustrator and writer. He went to the integrated secondary school Hazelwood College, then graduated from the University of Ulster in 2001. He relocated back to Northern Ireland in the early 2020s after a spell living and working in Brooklyn.

Life and work

From figurative painting and installation, to illustration and picture-book making, his work has been exhibited in New York, The Brooklyn Museum, Berlin, Dublin, London, Sydney, Washington, D.C., and Belfast.

He is widely known for his picture books for children, published by HarperCollins UK and Penguin US.

How to Catch a Star debuted in 2004 to critical acclaim, and Lost and Found (2005) won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal 2006, the Blue Peter Book Award 2006 and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal the same year. The Incredible Book Eating Boy (2007) won the Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, and his fourth Book The Way Back Home was released in September 2007 and The Great Paper Caper was released in September 2008. Stuck & This Moose Belongs to Me were both on The New York Times Best Seller list. Jeffers' books have been translated into German, Spanish and French among other languages.

The Day the Crayons Quit achieved No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Jeffers' style of illustration uses mixed media and is recognised for its subtle narrative and use of space in composition. As a freelance illustrator he has worked for clients such as Orange UK, Lavazza, Sony PSP, RCA Records, Starbucks, United Airlines, Newsweek, Wired, The Irish Times, The Guardian, Creative Review, New York Times, Kinder and The Telegraph.

Jeffers artwork consists of figurative painting executed on either canvas or three-dimensional objects, both found and made. His solo show Additional Information, (Belfast December 2006) studied the balance between form and content by drawing parallels between the arts and sciences, in which figurative oil paintings were over laid with mathematical equations.

Oliver Jeffers is represented by Praise Shadows Art Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, where he has been featured in two solo exhibitions, “The Night in Bloom” (2022) and “Dipped Paintings” (2025). Other solo exhibitions include “Nothing to See Here” (2013) and “Measuring Land and Sea” (2015) at Lazinc Gallery in London and “Life at Sea” (2025) at the Brooklyn Museum. In his artistic practice, he is interested in curiosity, perspective, the power of storytelling, and humor.

As a co-founder of the art collective OAR, along with Rory Jeffers, Mac Premo and Duke Riley, their exhibitions include 9 Days in Belfast, book and the award-winning BUILDING.

In 2007, Jeffers was the official World Book Day Illustrator.

Lost and Found became Jeffers' first book to be made into animation by London-based Studio AKA, premiering on Christmas Eve 2008 on Channel 4. In Australia it aired on Christmas Eve 2009 on ABC1 and Christmas Day 2009 on ABC3. Lost and Found the animation has won more than 40 international awards, including a BAFTA for Best animation in 2009.

In 2008, Jeffers featured in The Times list of "The Best New Picture Book Illustrators".

In 2010, The Heart in the Bottle was released as an iPad app, by HarperCollins.

In 2012, Jeffers provided illustrations for the UK Kinder TV ad campaign.

In 2013, Jeffers illustrated the vinyl cover (a drawing of Nelson Mandela) for the U2 song "Ordinary Love". Jeffers also co-directed (with Mac Premo) the video for the U2 song "Ordinary Love". Two years later, Jeffers contributed video content to the band's Innocence + Experience Tour, creating the chalk drawings and collages for the "innocence" act of the show.

In 2017, Jeffers wrote and illustrated Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, a children's book which topped the New York Times Bestseller list in its debut and won Time Magazine's 2017 Best Book of the Year award in the Young Adult and Children's Books category.

In 2020, Jeffers delivered a TED Talk, 'Ode to Living on Earth', which was released on Earth Day. and Jeffers Illustration book Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth is adapted to a short film by Apple TV+.

Jeffers was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to the arts.

From 15 April – 7 August 2022, the High Museum of Art exhibited a retrospective of his work titled Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books.

List of works

As writer and illustrator

How to Catch a Star (Philomel, Jun 2004)

Lost and Found (Philomel, Dec 2005)

The Incredible Book Eating Boy (Philomel, 2006)

The Way Back Home (Philomel, 2007)

The Great Paper Caper (Philomel, 2008)

The Heart and the Bottle (Philomel, Mar 2010)

Up and Down (Philomel, Dec 2010)

Stuck (Philomel, Nov 2011)

This Moose Belongs to Me (Philomel, Nov 2012)

The Hueys series (Philomel)

The New Jumper / The New Sweater (May 2012)

It Wasn't Me (Jan 2014)

None the Number (Jul 2014)

What's the Opposite? (Jan 2016)

Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters (Philomel, Oct 2014)

A Child of Books, with Sam Winston (Walker Books, 2016)

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (Philomel, Nov 2017)

The Fate of Fausto (Philomel, 2019)

What We'll Build: Plans For Our Together Future (Philomel, 2020)

There's a Ghost in This House (Philomel, 2021)

Meanwhile Back on Earth (Philomel, 2022)

Begin Again (Philomel, 2023)

The Dictionary Story, with Sam Winston (Walker Books, 2024)

Where to Hide a Star (Philomel, 2024)

I'm Very Busy (Philomel, Oct 2025)

As illustrator only

Noah Barleywater Runs Away, by John Boyne (2010)

The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas, by David Almond (2012)

The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket, by John Boyne (Knopf, Jan 2013)

The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt (Philomel, Jun 2013)

Stay Where You Are And Then Leave, by John Boyne (2014)

The Day the Crayons Came Home, by Drew Daywalt (Philomel, Aug 2015)

Imaginary Fred, by Eoin Colfer (HarperCollins, Sep 2015)

The Crayons' Book of Colors, by Drew Daywalt (2013)