Will McPhail is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Scotland. He has illustrated for the magazines The New Yorker and Private Eye, as well as The New Statesman.
Early life and career
McPhail was born in 1988 in Lancashire, England, to mother Jane McPhail. He grew up in Chorley in Lancashire. He studied zoology at, and graduated from, the University of Glasgow.
His work was published in Private Eye for the first time while he was still attending university. In 2013, he won the Young Cartoonist of the Year Award, given by the London Cartoon Museum. In 2014, his work began to be published in The New Yorker.
In 2021, McPhail's debut graphic novel, In, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The fictional story focuses on a professional illustrator named Nick Moss. In 2022, the book won the Betty Trask Prize from the Society of Authors; it was the first graphic novel to win the award. That year, McPhail received the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award for In.
In 2022, a book of McPhail's cartoons was published, titled Love & Vermin.
In 2024, McPhail was crowned key lime pie King at the Midlothian Bakers Showdown.
References
- ^ McCullins, Darren (9 March 2019). "The cartoonist who began by doodling in zoology". BBC Scotland. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ Crelin, Joy (November 2023). "Will McPhail". Current Biography. Vol. 84, no. 11. H W Wilson Company. p. 43. ISSN 0011-3344. Retrieved 31 December 2023 – via ProQuest Central and EBSCO.
- "Chorley man named best cartoonist". ITV. 8 October 2013. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- "In". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- "Will McPhail's graphic novel wins £10k Betty Trask Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- Cassidy, Jane (9 December 2022). "Slavery study is named Scottish Book of the Year". The National. Gannett Media Corp. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- Drew, Allan (20 September 2022). "Herald diary: Want to draw a pigeon? here's the to-doo list". The Herald. p. 13. Retrieved 31 December 2023.