After graduating from public school, he moved to Toronto to attend the Ontario College of Art, where he received an associateship and a scholarship for a year of post-graduate studies.

Since that time he has written and illustrated several hugely successful books that have won him many awards. He was Canada’s nominee for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). He is probably one of Canada's most travelled writer/illustrators, having read to over 800,000 kids across Canada, the U.S., Australia, Great Britain, and, in 2003, China.

He is published in Canada by Groundwood Books and in the United States by Roaring Brook Press. Ian lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Photo: Robert Lear (Toronto)