Sydney Smith (illustrator)


Sydney Smith is a Canadian illustrator of children's books. He is the 2024 recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".
He earlier won the 2015 Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration for Sidewalk Flowers, a wordless picture book which he illustrated with author JonArno Lawson. He currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
𝕏 sydneydraws

Education

Smith studied drawing and printmaking at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was while studying there that he realized his interest for illustrating children's books.

Career

Most of his work is illustrations for other authors. Smith's first three assignments were for re-issues of books by Sheree Fitch. To date he has authored and illustrated two titles, 2019's Small in the City and 2023's Do You Remember? He has worked for two different publishing houses in his career as an illustrator: Nimbus Publishing and Groundwood Books. In addition to his work as an illustrator and author, Smith has also done graphic design work for Canadian musical acts Hey Rosetta! and Old Man Luedecke.

Published works