BOOK US TO SPEAK, PUT ON A WORKSHOP OR DO A SHORT TERM RESIDENCY AT YOUR CONFERENCE, COLLEGE, COMPANY OR KINDERGARTEN
WE ARE MATTHEW SWANSON AND ROBBI BEHR—
A WRITER/ILLUSTRATOR, HUSBAND/WIFE, TASKMASTER/LOAFER DUO
WE LIVE AND WORK AND MAKE STUFF TOGETHER IN THE HAYLOFT OF AN OLD BARN ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND.
Combining Robbi’s illustrations and Matthew’s words, we run two small presses— Idiots’Books (illustrated picture books for adults) and Bobbledy Books, (a picture book and music club for kids). Together, we have published more than 60 volumes, including titles with Macmillan, Chronicle Books and LB Kids. We speak, teach, and run workshops on collaboration and creative entrepreneurship (with appearances at TEDx, Mom 2.0,Alt Summit, and ICON7). And we blog about our ongoing adventures in creative mishap. DOWNLOAD OUR MEDIA KIT HERE.
ROBBI BEHR
is an illustrator/print maker/commercial salmon fisherwoman who earned a BA from Williams College and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. When she is not drawing stuff or eating ice cream or watching sappy late-90s chick movies, she is, in all likelihood, fast asleep.
FOLLOW ROBBI:
MATTHEW SWANSON
is a writer/art director/blues harmonica player who has so far failed in every attempt to be swashbuckling. He managed to secure a BA from Williams but was summarily rejected from every MFA program to which he applied—thus emboldening Robbi to remind him almost daily that he is a master of nothing.
FOLLOW MATTHEW:
WE RUN TWO SMALL PRESSES THAT LIVE AT THE INTERSECTION OF PICTURES, WORDS, AND PAPER
Idiots’Books specializes in odd, commercially nonviable picture books for adults and distributes them via a quarterly subscription service in the US mail. Whether funny or wrenching or lovely or poignant or weird, each of the 43 (and counting) titles shines a light on the foibles and failings that describe and define the human condition.
Bobbledy Books is a picture book and music club for kids, delivering fun and inspiring content eight times a year in the US mail. From playful picture books to drawing and writing prompts to a yearly album of off-the-wall children’s tunes, Bobbledy content aims to celebrate the fun of reading, writing, and plain old imagining.
VARIOUS MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND WEBSITES HAVE SEEN FIT TO GIVE US A NOD.
The Modern Life column did a profile of our family and the “joys and challenges of raising kids while working from home.”
The Washington Post
Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michael Dirda noted our “never-ending exuberance and flair for mischief.”
The New York Times
In an interview on their ArtsBeats blog, referred to Idiots’Books as s a “very successful indie publishing business.”
Slate.com
Ran a four-part series on our creative partnership by acclaimed nonfiction writer Joshua Wolf Shenk.
Entertainment Weekly
Included our book Ten Thousand Stories in its 2014 Holiday Gift Guide.
Referring to our book Build Your Own President, novelist Cory Doctorow referred to us as “flipbook masters.”
New York magazine
Classified our work in the “Brilliant and Lowbrow” quadrant of their Approval Matrix. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
USA Today
On its Pop Candy blog, named Idiots’Books among its “top-10 ‘personal faves’ of the indie comic world.
Utne Reader
On its Great Writing blog, called us “downright inspiring” and “relentlessly innovative storytellers.”
Wired.com
Has featured our work three times on its GeekMom blog, calling us a “hilarious husband and wife team.”