Debi Gliori

Alexis Wright – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Debi Gliori (born 1959) is a Scottish writer and illustrator known especially for children’s picture books and imaginative fantasy novels. Explore her life, works, style, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Debi Gliori is a Scottish author and illustrator whose work has enchanted children and adults alike. With a distinctive visual style and a sensitive handling of themes like love, loss, fear, and imagination, she has become well known in the world of children’s literature. In this article we delve into her biography, creative journey, major works, and memorable insights.

Early Life and Background

Debi Gliori was born in 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland. only child, which she later reflected shaped her relationship to solitude and imagination.

She studied art and illustration: from 1979 to 1984 she attended Edinburgh College of Art, doing a degree in Visual Communication and a postgraduate in Illustration. Andrew Grant travelling scholarship which allowed her to spend time in Milan, broadening her artistic exposure.

From early on, she combined writing and drawing. As she states on her website, she has been making picture books since graduating, illustrating all of them by hand using traditional media.

Literary Career & Major Works

Genres and Focus

Gliori works across children’s picture books, illustrated stories, and fantasy novels for older children. war, homelessness, climate change, and depression in certain works for younger readers, showing her willingness to engage real issues in age-appropriate ways.

The Pure Dead / Strega Borgia Series

One of her best known projects is the Pure Dead / Strega Borgia chronicles (sometimes called Strega Borgia Chronicles), a series of black-comedy fantasy novels aimed at older children. StregaSchloss. Pure Dead Magic (2001) was Gliori’s first novel in that series.

The series blends fantasy, humor, gothic touches, and family dynamics—in the same spirit as shows that mix the quirky and the uncanny.

Picture Books and Other Works

Gliori has published dozens of picture books, often with recurring characters (e.g. Mr Bear) and titles that appeal to bedtime, comfort, curiosity, relationships, and emotion. Some of her well-known works include:

• No Matter What (often cited as her most famous work)

• The Trouble With Dragons (addressing climate change)

• Stormy Weather

• Night Shift (depression)

• The Tobermory Cat

Her illustration style remains rooted in traditional media—paper, pen, paint—and she has stated she tried using digital illustration but felt more at home with tactile materials.

Awards and Recognition

• The Mr Bear series won the Red House Children’s Book Award in 1997.

• Mr Bear to the Rescue was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1997.

• Always and Forever (written by Alan Durant, illustrated by Gliori) was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2003.

• Pure Dead Wicked was shortlisted for a Scottish Arts Council Award in 2003.

• Stormy Weather was nominated for the Royal Mail Award.

• In November 2018 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Strathclyde University.

She continues to live in Scotland, in Haddington, East Lothian.

Themes, Style & Influence

Debi Gliori’s works are notable for:

• Emotional honesty: She doesn’t shy from children’s fears, anxieties, and grief, but frames them in stories that can heal or validate.

• Blend of comfort and challenge: Even in gentle bedtime books, she sometimes addresses difficult realities (loss, emotional turmoil, external threats).

• Rich visual detail: Her illustration work is detailed, expressive, and integral to her storytelling.

• Humor and fantasy: In her novel work, she often uses absurdity, mystical elements, eccentric characters to allow readers to explore the weird and uncanny safely.

• Roots in place and nature: Her narratives often sense of place, climate, environment, and landscapes matter.

Her influence is strong in children’s literature circles in the UK and beyond. She inspires authors and illustrators interested in emotional depth, combining visuals and text, and tackling serious themes for younger audiences.

Memorable Quotes

Here are some representative quotes by Debi Gliori, reflecting on writing, imagination, creativity, and mothering:

“Growing up a lonely only child prepared me for the years of solitude spent as a writer; years spent in the company of people who don’t exist, imaginary people you have conversations with. It’s a paid form of madness, this writing stuff.”

“Books are time machines, transporting us out of our own lives into other times and other places.”

“Books are mind reading devices; they allow us free access to the thoughts and dreams of people we have never met.”

“It’s a very dull thing to watch, a writer at work. So dull that whole casts of characters show up just to watch the boring writer writing.”

“No ideas are harmed in the making of my books, by the way. All I do with my best ideas is run with them, fast as I can, taking notes and occasionally suggesting a left hand turn rather than the right hand one which might have taken us both over a precipice.”

“My job is not to frighten children, but sometimes addressing fears and concerns within the safe boundaries of a picture book can fill me with an awesome responsibility to be as truthful and transparent as possible.”

“I’ll always write picture books — it’s just what I do. I’d even do it if I wasn’t being paid.”

“I’m ridiculously proud of my children. More so than any of my books. I suspect I wouldn’t have written any of them if I hadn’t been lucky enough to have this huge family.”

“Look at the stars, how they shine and glow, some of the stars died a long time ago. Still they shine in the evening skies, for you see … love like starlight never dies.” (from No Matter What)

These lines reflect her sensitivity to imagination, meaning, emotional landscapes, and the responsibilities of writing for children.

Lessons & Insights

From Debi Gliori’s life and work, we might draw several lessons:

1. Creativity thrives in solitude — Her upbringing as an only child nurtured an interior life and capacity for imaginative companionship.

2. Merge art and text — She shows that illustration and writing are deeply complementary, not separate tasks.

3. Be brave about emotional truth — Even in children’s literature, she ventures into difficult emotional terrain, giving voice to grief, fear, uncertainty.

4. Respect the child’s world — She doesn’t condescend; she listens to the fears, hopes, and inner logic of children.

5. Persistence and authenticity — She has followed her path even when exploring digital art didn’t suit her, choosing to stay with traditional media that feel genuine.

Conclusion

Debi Gliori’s contribution to children’s literature is marked by empathy, visual imagination, emotional courage, and stories that respect both light and shadow. Her work nurtures both comfort and curiosity. If you’d like, I can also compile a full chronological bibliography, compare some of her major works, or analyze a specific book like No Matter What or Pure Dead Magic. Do you want me to go deeper?