Shaun Tan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Shaun Tan
Tan in 2011
Born	(1974-01-15) January 15, 1974 (age 52) Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Notable work	The Red Tree The Lost Thing The Arrival Cicada

Shaun Tan, born on January 15, 1974, is a talented Australian artist, writer, and filmmaker. He is famous for his unique graphic novel The Arrival (2006), which has won many awards. He also created the animated short film The Lost Thing (2010), based on his own picture book from 2000. This film even won an Academy Award! Shaun Tan has written and illustrated many other wonderful books, like The Lost Thing (2000) and The Red Tree (2001). His creative works have received numerous honors and have been turned into films and stage plays.

Shaun Tan's Early Life and School Days

Shaun Tan was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, on January 15, 1974. His father was from Malaysia, and his mother was Australian. He spent his childhood in the suburbs north of Perth.

As a young boy, Shaun loved drawing. He would illustrate poems and stories, often sketching dinosaurs, robots, and spaceships. Everyone at school knew him as a very talented artist. When he was eleven, he discovered the TV show The Twilight Zone and similar books. These stories, especially those by Ray Bradbury, inspired him to write his own short stories. He even got some rejection letters, showing his early ambition! At sixteen, his first drawing was published in an Australian magazine called Aurealis in 1990.

Shaun enjoyed many subjects in high school, like chemistry, physics, history, and English, along with art. He even thought about becoming a geneticist for a while. However, during his time at university, he realized his true passion was art. He decided to focus on becoming an artist.

He studied Fine Arts, English Literature, and History at the University of Western Australia. Although he found these subjects interesting, he wanted more hands-on art experience. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995.

Shaun Tan's Creative Career

How Shaun Tan Creates His Art

Shaun Tan's art journey began with black and white drawings. This was because his early works were printed without color. He used many tools for these, like pens, inks, acrylics, charcoal, and scraperboard. Today, his art is full of vibrant colors.

He starts by sketching ideas with a pencil on regular paper. He often makes many copies of these sketches, adding or removing parts until they are just right. Sometimes he even uses scissors to cut and paste different pieces together. This collage method often appears in his final artworks. He uses interesting materials like glass, metal, pieces from other books, and even tiny objects he finds.

Shaun says he works slowly, changing and improving his art many times. He explores themes like feeling lost or different in his stories. He believes young people understand these ideas very well. He sees himself as a "translator" of ideas, bringing them to life through his art. He is happy when his books are turned into films or music, like by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Shaun gets his ideas from many places and artists.

Awards and Special Honors

Shaun Tan's amazing work has earned him many awards and special recognition.

In 2000, he was a special guest artist and writer at the Victorian Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education. He gave talks and met with students and teachers at the University of Melbourne and local schools.

Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists

Since 2003, the City of Subiaco has hosted the annual Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists. This art competition is for all school children in Western Australia, aged 5 to 18. There are different categories for primary and high school students. The best artworks are shown at the Subiaco Library. For example, the 2025 entries were on display from July 7 to August 3.

Major Literary Awards

In 2010, Shaun Tan received the Dromkeen Medal. This award celebrates people who have greatly helped children's literature in Australia.

A year later, in 2011, he won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. This is one of the largest and most important prizes in children's literature worldwide. He received it for his incredible contributions to books for children and young adults.

Selected Book Awards

Shaun Tan's individual books have also won many honors:

• In 1992, he was the first Australian to win the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest.
• His book The Rabbits won the Children's Book Council of Australia's Picture Book of the Year in 1999.
• The Lost Thing won the Ditmar Award for Artwork in 2001.
• The Red Tree won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature in 2002.
• The Arrival won the Premier's Prize and Children's Books category in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards in 2006. It also won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book in 2008.
• In 2011, his animated short film The Lost Thing won an Academy Award.
• Rules of Summer won the Ditmar Award for Artwork in 2014.
• Cicada was named Picture Book of the Year by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2019.
• In 2020, Tales from the Inner City won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal.

Shaun Tan's Stories Come to Life

Many of Shaun Tan's books have been adapted into plays, films, and musical performances. This shows how much his stories connect with people.

• The Red Tree became a play for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. It also inspired a music performance by Michael Yezerski and Richard Tognetti, performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra with the Gondwana Voices choir.
• The Arrival has been brought to life in several ways. Images from the book were shown during a performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. It was also adapted for the stage by Red Leap Theatre. Another performance featured images projected with music by Ben Walsh, performed in famous venues like the Sydney Opera House.
• The Lost Thing became an Oscar-winning animated short film. This book also inspired a music album by the band Lo-Tel. A youth theatre company in Canberra, Jigsaw Theatre Company, turned it into a play. The Lost Thing was even the theme for the 2006 Chookahs! Kids Festival in Melbourne.
• The Rabbits was adapted into an opera by Kate Miller-Heidke. It premiered at the 2015 Perth International Arts Festival.
• A theatrical adventure based on his book Tales of the Inner City was presented at the 2026 Perth Festival. This project involved artists from across the Asia Pacific region.

Shaun Tan's Published Works

Books Illustrated by Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan has illustrated many books written by other authors:

• 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)

Books Written and Illustrated by Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan is also the author and illustrator of these wonderful books:

• The Playground (1997)
• The Lost Thing (2000)
• The Red Tree (2001)
• The Arrival (2006)
• Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008)
• The Bird King and other sketches (2011)
• The Oopsatoreum: inventions of Henry A. Mintox, with the Powerhouse Museum (2012)
• Rules of Summer (2013)
• The Singing Bones (2016)
• Cicada (2018)
• Tales from the Inner City (2018)
• Dog (2020)
• Eric (2020)
• Creature (2022)

Art Installations

• The Tea Party (2002), a large mural covering 24 square meters. It is located above the bookshelves in the Children's Section of the Subiaco Public Library in Perth.

See also

In Spanish: Shaun Tan para niños