Mo Willems

Early Life

• Raised in New Orleans
• Dad worked in hotels, Mom was a lawyer
• Joined community theater after being annoyed about receiving a small part in his fourth grade school play
• At age 16, wrote a comic strip for local real-estate magazine
• Always loved creativity, ambition, and art

College and beyond

• Attended NYU for animation
• Worked for Children's Television workshop from 1994-2002
• Performed stand up and drew comics

Children's Television Workshop

• Worked on Sesame Street
• ...And won six Emmy Awards
• Other shows: Sheep in the Big City and Codename: Kids Next Door
• Left in 2002 to pursue writing

Why leave?

• Wanted to spend more time with family
• Wanted greater creative freedom

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!>

Piggie and Gerald Series (EASY READERS)

Inspirations

• Writing about emotions
• Questions he cannot answer himself
• Being individualistic
• Writing for people who have not learned to be embarrassed

Other notable accomplishments

• Drawings, sculptures, and ceramics have been exhibited nation wide
• NPR's radio cartoonist
• Animated Knuffle Bunny won Best Film in the New York International Children's Film Festival in 2008 and received the Andrew Carnegie Medal in 2007
• Animated Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! won the Carnegie Medal in 2010

Willems currently lives in Massachusetts and still writes

References

• Galchen, R. (2017, January 30). Mo Willems’s Funny Failures. The New Yorker.
• Tilak, V. (2015, June 12). Children’s author Mo Willems on his inspiration. Boston Globe.
• Willems, M. (2019, November 14). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from http://mowillemsfaq.blogspot.com/