Cindy Derby is an author and illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for children, including Outside In, written by Deborah Underwood, which received a 2021 Caldecott Honor as well as five starred reviews. NPR has called her illustrations “mesmerizing,” and The New York Times regards her work as “profound…alive…and wonderfully out of control.” Cindy’s books have been translated all over the world and have also been awarded a Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Illustration, a Crystal Kite Award, and international awards such as France’s Philosophia Jeunesse Prize and the Alpaca Award (bronze medal) in Japan’s Kembuchi Picture Book Awards. She lives in San Francisco with her family.

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by.

When I was a kid, I enjoyed taking photographs of my two cats, decorating miniature shoe boxes with armadillos and making creeping drawings of all my crushes. When I got older, I went to theater school for many years where I trained to be a performer and a puppeteer. I built and designed puppets all over the world and performed one-woman puppetry shows.

Today, I spend my time creating picture books. I think of a picture book as a stage for all these characters in my head to come to life. They are full of mischief. And I like that. In my free time, I love to swim in the San Francisco bay and embark on adventures with my family in our camper van.

Some facts about me:

I am a self taught painter. I use watercolor, charcoal, Inktense pencils, and India ink. I also make my own paint brushes.
I was awarded by the Jim Henson Foundation and Puppet Animation Scotland for my puppetry productions. Look at some photos of my past productions here.
I was classically trained in theater & performance at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
I have a dog named Banjo who can walk on his hind legs and clap his front paws.

About my books:

How To Walk An Ant was praised as “wonderfully offbeat” (Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast), was named one of The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Children’s Books of 2019 (100 Scope Notes), and listed as one of School Library Journal’s Top Funny Picture Books of 2019.
Climbing Shadows was named a 2020 NCTE Notable Poetry Book and Verse Novel.
Outside In is a 2021 Caldecott Honor book. It also received a Golden Kite Honor for Picture Book Illustration from SCBWI. It has garnered FIVE STARRED reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, BCCB, and BookPage and was named one of the Best Books of 2020 by The New York Times, NPR, The Today Show, Publishers Weekly, NYPL, Evanston Public Library, Chicago Public Library and Bank Street College. The illustrations were praised by The New York Times as “alive...mysterious and wonderfully out of control.” The art was also selected to be part of the 2020 Society of Illustrators Original Art Show.
The Boy and the Gorilla is a 2021 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award Winner and a Bank Street College Best Book of 2021. It has THREE STARRED reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly & BCCB. It is the winner of the Alpaca Award (bronze medal) in Japan’s Kembuchi Picture Book Awards.
Two Many Birds is a Bank Street College Best Book of 2021. It has THREE STARRED reviews from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly and School Library Journal.
(For more info on my books, check them all out here.)

Interviews & PRess:

Select Clients:

Candlewick Press, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 826 Valencia, HBO, Simon & Schuster, Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan), Groundwood Books, Enchanted Lion Books, Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins)

“There is something about Cindy Derby’s brain and the way she tells her stories that make me happy she’s making picture books. Rather, it’s many things…Derby is an author who doesn’t get in her own way. She lets character take the wheel here, and it is gratifying every (ant) step of the way.”

— Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast