Matthew Cordell is the Caldecott Medal winning author and illustrator of Wolf and the Snow, andthe illustrator of numerous highly acclaimed children’s books including The Only Fish in the Sea and Special Delivery (both by Caldecott Medal winning author, Philip C. Stead), First Grade Dropout and Second Grade Holdout (both by Audrey Vernick), The Knowing Book, Bob Not Bob, If the S in Moose Comes Loose, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soul, and the wildly popular Justin Case series. Matt is also the author and illustrator of many celebrated picture books including Another Brother, Wish, Dream, and Hello! Hello!
Matt was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. As a little kid, he loved to read Maurice Sendak, Richard Scarry, and Dr. Seuss. He also loved to draw. Matt studied graphic design at Winthrop University, and after working in design jobs for a couple years following college, he moved to Chicago to pursue his passion, a career in graphic design and the fine arts. Soon, Matt’s paintings and drawings were being shown in galleries throughout the Windy City.
In Chicago, Matt met and began dating an elementary school librarian named Julie (who would later become his wife). Julie was also a budding and talented writer, and together, they wrote a picture book, a picture book that was rejected by nineteen different publishers. But finally, Houghton Mifflin accepted Toby and the Snowflakes, and the rest, as they say, is history.
These days, Matt lives with his wife, Julie Halpern, the picture book author and teen novelist, and their two kids just outside of Chicago.