Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy daPOWla) was born on September 15,1934 in Meriden, Connecticut, to Joseph and Florence (Downey)dePaola. He is of Italian and Irish descent. His sisters are Maureen and Judie. His brother was Joseph.

Since 1956 Tomie dePaola's career has been as professional artist and designer,a teacher of art, a painter and muralist and as an artist and author of books for children. He has illustrated nearly 200 books and written the stories for one-third of those books. He has been published for over 30 years. The re-drawn and full-color edition of Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs, to be published in 1998, is Tomie dePaola's 200th illustrated book.

Over 5 million copies of Tomie's books are in print and have been published in over 15 different countries. He currently receives nearly 100,000 fan leters and 1000 requests to speak before groups throughout the world each year.

He has designed greeting cards, posters, magazine and catalog covers, record album covers, and theatre and nightclub sets. Many of his paintings and murals were created for churches and monasteries in New England. It is the folk side of this modern day renaissance man that has become such an attractio to Beacon Fine Arts.

We at Beacon Fine Arts are honored to be associated with Tome dePaola. In producing fine art serigraphs of the highest quality, we are proud to present to the public a side of Tomie that is a showcase for his wit, exuberance, and zest for life.

Mr. dePaola has been published for over 30 years. Over 5 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide. his books have been published in over 15 different countries. He receives nearly 100,000 fan letters each year.

His most popular Character is "Strega Nona" (in Italian, "Grandma Witch", a wise, loving and gentle woman who possesses magical powers. There are six "Strega Nona" books. The newest, published September 1996, is an "as told to" autobiography... Strega Nona: Her Story

Also popular are Mr. dePaola's autobiographical stories and stories based on his life as a youngster; Watch Out For the Chicken Feet In Your Soup, Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs, Now One Foot, Now the Other, Oliver Button is a Sissy, The Art Lesson, The Baby Sister, Tom