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Jane Hissey was born in Norwich in 1952 and currently lives in East Sussex. She is a British writer and illustrator. She is best known for her series of children's books Old Bear and Friends which became the basis for a BAFTA award winning television series Old Bear Stories, episodes of which were released on VHS by Carlton Video.
According to Hissey's Old Bear Diary, Old Bear was given to her by her grandmother when she was a baby. During her childhood he was a main focus of her games and then, thirty-two years later, he became the inspiration for her first illustrated book. Later her childhood bear was joined by other soft toy characters, which she draws on nearly an every day basis.
The art medium she uses is coloured pencils, which enables her to accurately record the textures and details that children and adults have come to expect from her highly-detailed illustrations.
Hissey studied Design and Illustration at Brighton and became an art teacher at a sixth form college until the birth of her first child. She now lives in East Sussex with her husband, Ivan, and three children.
Her 1986 picture book Old Bear made it into Booklist's "Editor's Choice" list for children's books for that year; in an earlier starred review, Barbara Elleman praised Hissey' use of perspective, texture, and colors.
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