László Gál (born 1933, in Hungary) is a Canadian children's illustrator of over 40 books. He has won the Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration three times and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award once.
Gál was born in Hungary in 1933. After receiving a diploma in art education, he spent three years teaching in Budapest. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he immigrated to Canada, where he lived in Toronto and worked various service jobs. Eventually, he gained a position as an artist with The Globe and Mail. Then, from 1958 to 1965, he worked as a graphic designer with the CBC.
Following a vacation to Italy, Gál lived in Verona from 1965 to 1969, at which point his career in children's illustration began. While initially on vacation, he shared some of his artwork with Italian publishing house Arnoldo Mondadori. This resulted in him creating illustrations for El Cid, after which he started illustrating children's books for the publishing house.
Gál returned to Canada in 1970, at which point he began illustrating freelance. He published his Canadian first book, Cartier Discovers the Saint Lawrence, written by William Toye, in 1970. Following this, he illustrated dozens more children's books, which have won him several awards, including the IODE Jean Throop Book Award, Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration, and Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award.
Awards and honours +Awards for Gál's worksYearTitleAwardResult1978Why the Man in the Moon Is Not Happy and Other Eskimo Tales of CreationIODE Jean Throop Book Award Winner1979Canada Council Children's Literature Prize for English-language illustrationWinner1980Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's AwardWinner1983Canada Council Children's Literature Prize for English-language illustrationWinner1987Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustrationFinalist Select publications
Notes
References
Further reading