Paddy Donnelly

Paddy Donnelly is a Northern Irish author and illustrator living in Belgium, who has illustrated many children’s books. He is author-illustrator of such popular picture books as Dodos Are Not Extinct, Fox & Son Tailers, Badger Books, The Vanishing Lake, The Golden Hare, Badger Books and The Upside-Down Lighthouse. Paddy grew up on the beautiful North Antrim coast, surrounded by mythical stories of giants, magical creatures and shape-shifting animals. He has been nominated thrice for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration, shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards, the Irish Book Awards and The English Association’s Book Awards, longlisted for the UK Literacy Association Book Awards, among others, and his books have won at the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards, the Literacy Association of Ireland’s Biennial Children’s Book Awards, the Irish Book Awards, the Indie Book Awards and Leicester’s Our Best Picture Book Award. His new picturebook The Upside-Down Lighthouse is published by The O’Brien Press in March 2026.