Judy Horacek

Horacek graduated with a BA from the University of Melbourne in 1991, majoring in Fine Arts and English. She then studied for a Diploma in Museum Studies at Victoria University. In 2007, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Visual) in Printmedia and Drawing from Australian National University. She lives in Melbourne. ==Writing==

Horacek started her career as a writer, and was a member of a community writing group in North Melbourne. Words are an important part of her cartoons, and sometimes dominate the pictures. Her stories have appeared in a number of anthologies. After collaborating on a children's picture book with Mem Fox, she began to write and illustrate her own children's books, something she had always wanted to do, in addition to continuing to work with Mem Fox. ==Cartoons==

"My life has been a quest to find new and better place to stick cartoons", Horacek has said. Accordingly, her cartoons can be found in newspapers and magazines, online, on various merchandise items and as limited edition prints. It was her interest in feminism which "drove Horacek's early work and established her reputation as a cartoonist". In 2007, she said that "The woman with altitude ... represents who we could be". At various times she has had regular spots in such newspapers and magazines as The Age, The Weekend Australian Magazine, The Canberra Times, the Australian Book Review, the Australia Institute newsletter and currently The Monthly. ==Illustration==

She illustrated Mem Fox's non-fiction book, Reading Magic, and in 2004 she and Mem Fox collaborated on Where Is the Green Sheep?, Judy's first picture book. It was shortlisted for several book awards, and in 2005 won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year – Early Childhood Award and the 2005 Speech Pathology Australia Award. Fox and Horacek collaborated on five other picture books, Goodnight, Sleep Tight (2013), This & That (2015), Ducks Away (2016), Bonnie & Ben Rhyme Again (2018) and Meerkat Mayhem (2024). She written her own children's books, the first being The Story of GROWL (2007), followed by "These are My Hands" (2008), "These are My Feet" (2009) and "Yellow is my favourite colour", as well as a series of reimagined nursery rhymes including Hey Diddle Diddle (2024) and Hickory Dickory Dock (2025). ==Children's books==

• Where Is the Green Sheep?, with Mem Fox (2004, and ) • The Story of GROWL (2007, ) • These are My Feet (2007, ) • These are My Hands (2008, ) • Yellow is my favourite colour (2010, ) • Good Night, Sleep Tight, Mem Fox, Illustrated by Judy Horacek (2012, ) • Yellow is my colour star (2014, ) • This & That with Mem Fox (2015, ) • Ducks Away! with Mem Fox (2016, ) • Bonnie and Ben Rhyme Again with Mem Fox (2018, ) • Hey Diddle Diddle (2024, ) • Meerkat Mayhem with Mem Fox (2024, ) • Hickory Dickory Dock (2025, ) ==Cartoon collections==

• Life on the Edge, Introduced by Dale Spender (1992, and 2003, ) • Unrequited Love: Nos. 1–100 (1994, ) • Lost in Space (1997, ) • Woman with Altitude (1997, and 1998, ) • If the fruit fits (1999, ) • I am woman, hear me draw / cartoons from the pen of Judy Horacek (2003, ) • Make Cakes Not War, (2007, ) • ''If you can't stand the heat'' (2010, ) • Random Life (2017, ) • Now or Never (2020, ) ==Exhibitions==

Horacek has regularly shown her prints and watercolour painting in commercial galleries in solo and group exhibitions. She has had retrospectives at the National Gallery of Victoria, Laughter, the Universe and Everything, which toured regional Victoria, and at the National Museum of Australia, the exhibition I am woman hear me draw in 2002. This exhibition toured throughout Australia. ==Other works==

• Mary Jane: living through anorexia and bulimia nervosa / Sancia Robinson with Foong Ling Kong and cartoons by Judy Horacek (1996, ) • ''The women's power pocket book'' / Joan Kirner and Moira Rayner with illustrations by Judy Horacek (2000, ) • Reading Magic: how your child can learn to read before school and other important things / Mem Fox with illustrations by Judy Horacek (2001, , , ; 2004, and 2005, ) • ''The Night Before Mother's Day'', Doug MacLeod, Illustrated by Judy Horacek (2012, ) • Worked with Flying Fruit Flies circus to produce Girls with Altitude circus show using her cartoons. • Horacek worked as Visual Art Director on Monkey Baa Theatre Company's theatre production of ‘‘Where is the Green Sheep?’’ which premiered in Brisbane in 2025, and is currently touring Australia with locations including the Sydney Opera House. • Horacek created and performed her cartoon slide show, Everyone on the Bus Fell Down (Not Just Me) at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2026. ==References==