Ian Archibald Beck, English children's illustrator and author, was born in 1947 in Brighton. More than a million copies of his books have been sold worldwide. Archibald has collaborated with Oxford University Press and Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and Homes and Gardens magazines. In 1997 and 2000, he won a gold award for writing and illustrating the books Home Before Dark and Alone in the Woods.