Beginnings and Endings with Lifetimes in Between by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen

For over twenty years, Bryan Mellonie's Beginnings and Endings with Lifetimes In Between has been a wonderful source of comfort for both children and adults, with its sensitive discussions about death and beautiful celebration of living. Lifetimes is currently listed with many organisations that deal with difficult issues such as recovery from sickness and disease and dealing with the inevitability of death from someone suffering a terminal illness.

Robert Ingpen was born in 1936 in Geelong, and now lives and works in Barwon Heads.
In 1968 he began his long career as a freelance illustrator and storyteller publishing well over 100 books on Australian life, history and conservation, but mostly illustrated stories for children such as Storm Boy (with Colin Thiele) and The Idle Bear. His most known, at least in the Geelong region, is The Voyage of the Poppykettle, a folk story that emerged as the enduring annual festival for children.

In 1986 he became the only Australian to be awarded the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature as an illustrator, and has been honoured with a Doctor of Arts of RMIT, and with Membership of the Order of Australia.

More recently he has illustrated the acclaimed series of children’s classics, of which there are now sixteen titles that continue to be published in many editions worldwide. Titles like Peter Pan, Treasure island, The Jungle Book, Wind in the Willows, A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden, Pinocchio, Around the World in Eighty Days, The Jungle Book, The Wizard of Oz, The Nutcracker, Robinson Crusoe and in 2021 Gulliver’s Travels.